Minutes passed in relative quiet. The rumble of the company's vehicles and occasional chirps from the VI interface were the only sounds. The tunnel widened, enough to allow the two Ix tanks to take the lead and maneuver with adequate agility as they traveled deeper down the tunnels.
The relative peace was shattered as unknown contacts appeared ahead of them. Instinctually, the Ix gunners pressed their triggers and destroyed the first contact but almost instantly it was replaced by two more. The company deftly sidestepped the wreckage of the first contact and engaged the two that appeared behind. Two more railgun slugs smashed into the unidentified vehicles and rendered them useless.
"Bravo-One to Alpha-One!" Lieutenant Fuentes called over comms, "We've engaged unknown contacts, over!"
"Roger Bravo-One!" Major Metharom replied, "We've got hostiles on our end! Keep pushing and open that goddamn door!"
"Bravo-One copies! Over and out." She switched to company comms, "Bravo-One to company: Stop for nothing! Check your targets and push to the entrance!"
More Zephyr hover tank drones awoke from their centuries of slumber to fulfill their long-awaited directive. One after another, the soulless machines pressed forward to engage the intruders. Pairs of Zephyrs fired off volleys of PPCs, lasers, missiles, everything they had to stop the wayward unknowns. One after another, they fell. Even their wreckage could not slow the advance of the unknown contacts. The Base's defense system changed their defense plan. Aggressive individual unit action was not producing desirable outcomes, so it switched to swarm protocol. Unfortunately, it determined that the transport tunnel could not allow for rapid unit deployment. There were now unknown contacts outside the base that engaged the turret emplacements and over the course of a few minutes had destroyed the first ring in moments. With the transport tunnel under attack, the defense system made the decision to open the main doors and deploy drones directly to the front. Those assigned to the tunnel would continue to delay the advance of the unknown force of four. If necessary, the drones would simply pile on top of themselves to physically block the rapid advance. The command was issued and Zephyrs began to relocate and move from the motor pool to the main entrance.
Major Metharom felt the situation intensify. Readings from Bravo Company showed an increase in opfor numbers, which slowed their advance. Their speed was cut in half as wreckage physically began to pile up in front of them. Alpha, Charlie and Delta engaged the turrets as they popped up. She was thankful that the weaponry on the castle's automated defenses had no effect on them at the range they were at. They already destroyed four turrets as soon as they appeared with no effective return fire. Yet, years of experience heightened her battle sense. There was an underpinning of threat, a wind of imminency that lay after the calm after the last engagement. Her own drones circled lazily above and fed real time information to them.
Minutes passed as no new targets emerged. There were obvious hardpoints that were certain to store more turrets, but none appeared. Someone, or something, had adapted to the situation and was taking a different tac with them. Her comms buzzed.
"Bravo-One to Alpha-One, over." Fuentes called.
"Bravo-One, go ahead, over." She replied.
"Bravo-One, progress halted. Enemy vehicles piled themselves up and blocked the tunnel, over."
Metharom massaged the bridge of her nose, "Roger that, Bravo-One. Attempt to blast through and report back. Read back, over."
"Read back: blast through and report back, over."
"Correct, over."
There was a brief pause on the other end, "Wilco, over."
"Roger. Alpha-One out."
As she terminated the transmission, she was about to switch frequencies when the vehicle VI pinged her HUD. She brought up the ping and watched the live feed. The main metal blast doors, unused for centuries, began to open. She switched frequencies.
"Alpha-One to Delta-One, over."
"Go ahead, Alpha-One."
"Confirm main doors opening, over."
A pause followed, "Delta-One confirms doors are opening. Wait. Enemy spotted, over."
"Delta-One, numbers, over."
"Wait." A moment passed, "Wait." Another, "Alpha-One, I estimate at least twenty, over."
"Say again, over?" That could not be right.
"Twenty. Two-zero, Alpha-One, probably more, over."
Well, shit. She thought to herself. She patched in Charlie Company's commander, "Charlie-One, Delta-One, this is Alpha-One. Engage the new contacts. We fight our way to the entrance and link up with Bravo, over."
"Wilco, over" Bravo-One and Charlie-One replied in unison.
"Roger. Alpha-One out." She switched to internal comms, "Driver, move out! Gunner, fire at will!"
Bridge, ISV Lady Jessica
"Oh hell." The tactical officer muttered to themselves, "Ma'am, away team has encountered a whole lot of contacts."
Anahera and Heintze watched as Zephyr hover tanks emerged from the entrance of Castle Nautilus and engaged Major Metharom's company. The sheer number of contacts outweighed any estimate they gave them during the briefing.
"That wasn't mentioned in the game." Heintze stated aloud, "It just spawned enemies until… oh. Oh shit."
"They're gonna have to fight their way through that mess into the base. Did the game mention any internal security?" Anahera asked.
"No, ma'am. Just that the player made their way into the castle and recovered four 'mechs to fight their way to their extract. They did have to fight through a force sent by the Taurian Concordat to leave, but we don't have to worry about that. They did have to defeat the electronic defenses before they could enter the base, but the doors are already open…"
"Do you think the EWAR suites on the vehicle VIs can defeat the base's automated security?" She asked the intel officer.
"I honestly don't know. Our only example of such an attack was against the Von Braun and that was a case study at best." Lieutenant Heintze shook his head and rubbed his chin, "Maybe we should've tried to recover the Argo before we attempted this…"
"Wait," she turned to Heintze, "what data do we have from the Von Braun?"
"Higher sent us everything, from technical data to their—oh." His eyes lit up, "I see what you're getting at, Captain."
She turned to the comms officer, "Comms, send down the Von Braun's ID codes. Tell them to change their IFF signatures to match."
"Aye, ma'am."
Castle Nautilus Outskirts
It had been a half hour of fire and maneuver. Metharom and her three companies had managed to keep the Zephyr hover tanks at arm's length with drones and Balisets providing aerial support. She deigned to deploy her infantry as their current mobility was needed to prevent being overrun. Despite their firepower advantage, the hover tanks were gaining ground. Their ever-expanding numbers meant that even though they were significantly outgunned, they were approaching their perceived enemy by the minute. Her Vernius' VI estimated that at the current rate of advance, they would be within weapons range in ten minutes. The ISA forces simply did not have enough guns on the ground for the enemy force. Orbital strikes were out of the question. Any miscalculation induced by the ECM field could mean their annihilation.
Tank after tank fell to the combined fire of the three companies and their aerial support but they just kept coming. When one fell, two more came out of the base entrance to replace it. Ten minutes turned into nine, then eight. The VI kept a running estimate of enemy advance, and it shrank as their numbers grew. She punched up the holomap. Her eyes bulged. Twenty had turned into fifty, with more pouring out after every loss.
One minute. The estimate shrank dramatically. Turrets emerged from the hard points and these were better equipped than their previously destroyed counterparts. They opened fire with missile volleys, guided by the Zephyrs to her company. That's when her VI warned her that the first Zephyrs were in range. The hover tanks began to open fire with PPCs, their brilliant particle light danced across the battlefield. Her driver pulled their Vernius hard to the left to avoid the incoming fire. Soon enough, the hover tanks closed to laser range and their green glow met the invisible shields of their vehicles. The railgun autocannon atop her Vernius never stopped firing, and the missile pods kept feeding explosive death to the enemy, but she knew it was only a matter of time before the shields failed and the sheer weight of fire would eventually overcome even the fearsome ISA battle vehicles. She knew that her Ix tanks were already taking fire directly to their armor given their position as frontline fighters. Bravo Platoon emerged from the transport tunnel in a flank that briefly disrupted the enemy formation, but that only redoubled the base's defenses. Even more hover tanks poured from the entrance like water from a river delta, seemingly with no end.
Her comms chirped at her with an encoded message from the Lady Jessica. She quickly glanced at it and immediately rebroadcast it to her company.
"Alpha-One to Alpha Company, immediate! Be ready to switch IFF on my mark! Acknowledge, over!" She called over the comms.
"Bravo-One, wilco, over!"
"Charlie-One, wilco, over!"
"Delta-One, wilco, over!"
"Alpha-One, mark, over!" she pressed a button on her console and hoped that this would work.
Castle Nautilus' automated defense system checked the targets they had engaged. What was once unknown contacts came back as verified Star League vehicles sent from the vessel Von Braun. Though the name was unknown in the database, the IFF signatures matched those of the Star League Defense Force, and any directive to disengage could only be overridden by its human operators. With none to tell it otherwise, the system accepted the IFF signature as valid and ordered the innumerable Zephyr hover tank drones to stand down and return to the motor pool. As though nothing had happened, the remaining Zephyrs fell back and began to file in and return to their dormant state. It transmitted the automated 'all clear' message to the Star League vehicles and a brief report of the unknown contacts. The doors remained open, as the Star League personnel that had arrived on world would need to enter the facility. It has been over two centuries since the last inspection.
Major Metharom watched in amazement as the staggering number of Zephyrs retreated into Castle Nautilus. Her comms received a transmission from the Castle, 'All Clear. Unknown contacts disappeared from scope. Welcome, Star League Vessel Von Braun.' She shook her head. The automated defense system actually accepted the IFF signature as valid. She ordered Alpha Company to regroup at the entrance of the castle, assigned duties, and opened a channel to the Lady Jessica.
"Alpha-One to Lady Jessica, over."
The holographic image of Fleet Captain Anahera's head appeared in her HUD, "Lady Jessica. Well done, Major. That was a fine engagement."
"Did you know about the number of opfor, Captain?"
"No. That was an unpleasant surprise to be sure, but you handled yourselves well."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"We're sending down the rest of the battalion. Maintain perimeter security until they arrive. When they do, clear out Castle Nautilus. I want that place completely safe before we reactivate it."
"Roger that, ma'am."
"Fantastic. Lady Jessica out."
Castle Nautilus
30 April 864 AS/2009/3024
The mechanized infantry of Lady Jessica's battalion spent the better part of two days to clear out the expansive Castle Nautilus. Though considered an 'Outpost Castle' by the standards of the Star League, this facility was still large enough to ensure the loyalty of the periphery worlds in its sphere of influence. The transport tunnel, now clear thanks to the engineer company, revealed a path to the pristine motor pool which held the hundreds of inactive Zephyr hover tank drones that nearly overwhelmed Alpha Company. The 'mechbay was stocked with pristine examples of some of the Star League's most battle-proven 'mechs, enough to outfit a Star League-era BattleMech regiment. The armory contained thousands of infantry weapons and equipment, enough to supply an infantry battalion. The sheer amount of military hardware untouched and concentrated here boasted the most military research material recovered that surpassed even Lapu-Lapu. There was no obvious spaceport, but the ground outside the transport tunnel was paved to allow DropShips to land safely, which suited the Baliset transports just fine. With the castle secure, now came the process of safe reactivation. There was a litany of tasks to be completed.
Technical staff swarmed the halls and worked in the various rooms to wipe away any trace of the automated defense system. They had to ensure that the IFF spoof they used could not be used against them. Destroyed base defenses had to be repaired and replaced with ISA-spec hardware. All data from the central computer core was copied to the Lady Jessica for analysis. The ECM field was readjusted for clear ISA communication and complete hindrance of any unidentified transmissions. Battlefield wreckage was cleared by worker drones and IFVs to cover up any evidence of combat. The Zephyr's control systems were examined to see if they could be utilized by a new base VI system to be installed over the coming weeks, perhaps the Zephyrs themselves even refitted with ISA-spec weapons. Despite the firepower at their disposal, they knew that cover and concealment were their greatest asset. So, efforts were made to conceal the castle further, to hide the human-made lines into the natural features of the mountain it was built into.
With the work begun, Fleet Captain Anahera walked into the command center as technical staff darted from station to station trying to get the Star League hardware to communicate clearly with their VI. The lessons learned on Lapu-Lapu paid off dividends as they reactivated systems one after another in a matter of hours rather than weeks. She strode over to the combat information center where Major Metharom and Captain Valencia worked on their reports. They rose to attention as she entered. She motioned to them to be at ease.
"Major," Anahera sat opposite her XO at the recently installed holo-table, "how goes your end of the reactivation?"
"Well, ma'am." Metharom replied, "Duty rotations are assigned, and security details are deployed throughout the facility."
"Casualties?" Anahera asked.
"Couple of nasty falls from rusted catwalks." Valencia reported, "Sprained ankles and some minor fractures. Five soldiers down for a day, but the medics got them up and about quickly. The rest of the base went smoothly. The defense system took the IFF spoof without question and maintained our Star League identity until the tech staff deactivated it."
"Good to hear."
"Question, ma'am." Metharom scratched her temple.
"Go ahead, Major."
"How are we going to get all this hardware off world?"
"We won't." Anahera responded simply.
"What?" Valencia gave her a sideways look, "Why not, ma'am?"
"Orders. We're to send a few examples of unique 'mechs, vehicles, and equipment back to Cradle for study and keep the rest here."
"May I ask why ma'am?" Metharom pressed gingerly.
"No, Major."
Crew Quarters, ISV Lady Jessica
Lieutenant Heintze reviewed the complete inventory of military hardware stored in the castle. All of it was deemed functional and ready for use, exactly what his superiors hoped for. He completed his report and sent a transmission off to Cradle as ordered. He had little concrete idea of why they would want a manifest of weaponry, but he had a fair guess.
The Aurigan Reach was in a state of strife. With the recent ascension of Santiago Espinosa to the position of Director of the Aurigan Directorate after the bloody coup two years prior, his hold on power was tenuous at best. He held the loyalty of the outer worlds of the Reach through fear and the core worlds through relative comfort at the cost of the outer worlds' prosperity. With such a volatile region after the fall of a beloved ruling family, the Systems Security Service must have seen an opportunity to gain a friendly government on the far edge of known human civilization. If an apocryphal video game was to be believed, then Lady Kamea Arano was alive and was organizing a resistance. If they were provided arms, training, and material support then a ready-made ally was primed align itself with the ISA's interests. That video game provided them with this boon and without the interference of the Taurian Concordat. With this much untouched Star League-era power, the Arano line could take the Reach back and become a power far from the potential destruction of the Fourth Succession War and subsequent Clan Invasion.
This was only a guess, however. He had no idea just how accurate he was and how much this military power could tip the scales in an upcoming civil war…
New Liberty Interstellar Port
Cradle
Sanctuary System, Independent Systems Alliance Space
2 June 864 AS/2009/3024
Siridar Bashar Kevin 'Cerun' DeMers stood in awe of Cradle at the head of a Baliset's ramp, newly arrived the day before on board the Artemis. He smiled ear to ear, the product of decades of his work and that of his crew realized on this world. There was never a doubt in his mind that Merlow would lead the displaced of their home universe out of danger, but this was no longer survival. Cradle represented a fresh start for the people of the Sirius Sector. For decades the ISA was a nation in name only, with no home to call their own. With that long trek over, Cerun allowed himself this triumph for his efforts were in service of this.
He and his crew had all landed, the LSV Artemis surrendered to Strike Group Rhineland for a complete mechanical debrief. His crew were to be debriefed over the following week after they had settled into their assigned quarters in the bustling military district. During the transit to Cradle, he reviewed the information he had surreptitiously gleaned from his access to the ISA archives. They had named the military academy after him, in honor of his service to the formation of the ISA. He checked his uniform one more time and lead his crew down the ramp into the waiting escort of ISA military officers. A familiar face greeted him.
"Fleet Admiral Cerun, in the flesh." The officer greeted, saluting with a smile on their face.
"General Hilde Engel." Cerun returned the salute and shook her hand, "Never thought I'd see the day that a Rhineland army officer would share the same uniform as me."
"It's Bashar now." Engel motioned him to follow her, "Even before the exodus, you were a bit of a legend."
Cerun laughed, "Gods, did Merlow get to you too?"
Engel reacted in kind, "No! You know we had to study our neighbors, and by God was your service record one for the ages."
"Existential threats to your nation tend to do that, you know."
"Leading the last loyal fleet in a counter coup in the heart of your country is a hell of a public achievement. We studied your maneuvers and movements for years after, before we all had to leave."
Cerun scoffed, "You're joking. We studied your strategies for the ground invasion of Pittsburgh after your victory over the Red Hessians."
"We learned a lot from one another, no?"
"You can say that again."
The pair walked forward trailed by the crew of the Artemis and their escort of military officers. They all loaded aboard a waiting skyrail tram headed for the military district. Conversation was light, jovial. Stories were swapped of battles, exploits, victories, and defeats. Cerun learned of some of the individual stories of the Brotherhood War, horrific engagements significantly outnumbered in defense of the sleeper ships before the decision was made to park them on Silverfish. The journey was not kind in the first couple decades. The Artemis only provided information and very rarely participated in battle in that war. In a short half hour, they arrived at the station, ushered through the gates quickly and brought to their temporary housing on world.
Cerun examined his quarters. It was much better than he expected, fit for the Admiralty of Bretonnia not Liberty yet with the signature aesthetic of the ISA. Utilitarian grace and muted luxury, as fitting of a Bashar of the Independent Systems Alliance. He sat down at the room's desk and brought up a computer screen. A two-dimensional interface augmented by holographic technology, probably a product of an Earth-based company. He checked the branding of the monitor: Samsung. He made a note to look up the details of the ISA's tech sharing agreements. He opened the news application. The number of news networks on screen surprised him. BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Russia Times, Fox News, Earth-based networks dominated the space. The ISA's only network, the Independent News Network, was in the center of the screen but Earth dominated the news space. He browsed the articles and videos of the day. Antallos dominated the cycle, but developments on Earth fostered by the CSN's partnership with the ISA were also present. Rebroadcasts of ComStar's HPG news transmissions were also present, with news stories from all over the Inner Sphere.
A beep came from the door.
"Enter." Cerun called.
"Kev." He greeted as he entered the room.
Cerun turned around. Robert Merlow, his protégé, old friend, and now superior officer stood in the entryway, "What, Silverfish got too boring?"
"You of all people should know that nothing beats being somewhere in person when history is made." Merlow smiled, "Fuckin' hell, fifty years. We never thought we'd see you again."
"You know I don't know how to die. C'mere!" Cerun went in for a hug which Merlow reciprocated, "In all seriousness, I never thought I'd see the day."
Merlow drew back, "What, that your efforts meant something? That we succeeded?"
"That we both survived."
Merlow laughed, "What option did we have?" He sat in a chair on the opposite side of the desk, "What was it you told me? Nothing happens in a vacuum, even in space?"
Cerun snorted as he stepped to the minibar, "Yeah. Every event, every action is with consequence. Fuck, it's been too long." He picked up one of the bottles and examined it, "The hell? St. George Absinthe Verte?"
"One of the perks of trading with Earth. Lots of new options for everything. Well, new to us. We've never seen Earth before."
"Still haven't." Cerun put the bottle down and picked up another, "Care for a drink?"
"Of course."
Cradle Military Administration Complex
12 June 864 AS/2009/3024
The past ten days had been grueling. The crew of the Artemis knew that the debrief would be anything but brief, yet they did not anticipate the length of such thorough examination. Each and every crewmember was interviewed, their memories examined, cross referenced with the ship's database, and medically examined. Simultaneously, the Artemis itself was examined bulkhead by bulkhead. Nothing was left to chance, no nook or cranny left uninspected. This is inspection is what took the most time, as both manned and automated teams had to crawl through every access tube and every orifice. Nothing would be hidden from the watchful eyes of the Independent Systems Navy nor the Systems Security Service. Being out of direct contact for over half a century, the military and intelligence arms of the nation were understandably cautious about their arrival and reintegration into the larger military apparatus.
Siridar Bashar Kevin 'Cerun' DeMers sat in a featureless examination room, the only pieces of furniture within being a table and two chairs. He did a quick mental review of his current itinerary. There was to be a medical procedure to upgrade his cybernetics suite to the latest Mentat spec. His hardware dated from before the exodus, from pre-ISA work. While still sufficient and more than capable of everything needed on and off the battlefield, updates in technology from half a century of research and the cooperation of what remained of his Sirius Sector meant that there was significant room for improvement. After the procedure would be a week of acclimation and three weeks of RnR as the LSV Artemis was refitted for duty.
The door opened and in walked Merlow, "Sorry for all this, Kev." He sat in the chair opposite him.
"Comes with the job. I'm surprised you managed to fully examine the Artemis in a week." Cerun shrugged.
"Helps when the parties involved are willing." Merlow leaned back, "You'll be happy to know that you, your crew and your ship are all in the clear."
Cerun smirked, "Glad to hear it, man."
"This last bit is a formality, but it must be done here rather than my office. Risk management protocol and all that."
"What last bit?"
Merlow handed across a tablet, "Here."
Cerun quickly skimmed the words before him, "My reinstatement and acceptance of ISA cybernetics as a function of said rank. Why here?"
"The rest of the Basharate wanted to make sure you didn't try to kill me and take my place." Merlow chuckled, "My office is plenty secure against that kind of shit, but it'd be harder to clean if you tried."
Cerun laughed, "Marcus really that paranoid?"
Merlow shrugged, "Cleaning centuries-old books is time consuming. Bloodstains in paper? Takes a week to get that all out."
"Fuck you!" Cerun jovially pressed his hand onto the tablet and handed it back, "Despite Tommy's and Marcus' delusions of my intentions, it's good to be back."
"Good to have you back as one of us again. Now, let's get you to medical. Gotta get you up to spec."
Office of the Precentor, HPG Station
Helm
Helm System, Free Worlds League Space
19 June 3024
The events of December of last year weighed heavy on Precentor Emilio Rachan. The local government had kept a tight lid on the specifics, but ROM confirmed an attack on the John Deere factory on planet. The HPG transmissions and inquiries from Irian Technologies did little to hide their intentions leading up to the attack. They had made their intentions very clear with requests for terrain knowledge of paths of transit to and from the factory. Thus was the state of business in the Inner Sphere, and it helped ComStar's overall mission to keep the status quo. What troubled him was that the attack was a complete failure, and any evidence of battle was quickly cleared. Aside from a few errant craters, it was if nothing ever happened. There were transmissions from John Deere to Irian Technologies to ransom back the combatants, but nothing came of it.
ROM managed to capture some footage of the battle, though at a distance to ensure their security. Unknown tanks managed to fire on 'mechs from improbable distances with accuracy unseen since the First Succession War. Aerospace fighters were swatted from the sky as casually as one would kill an insect, by automated turrets no less. The force sent to the seemingly undefended agritech company, a company's worth of vehicles and 'mechs, was completely crushed with no evidence of loss from the defenders. Such engagements were unheard of, as the technology of the Inner Sphere forced combat into a relative melee. Targeting systems were primitive in comparison to the old Star League. For an unknown agricultural firm to employ forces able to not only deliver fire with accuracy unseen in the last few centuries but to do so with seemingly no loss to themselves was suspect in the extreme.
Rachan pulled up the file on John Deere. He read through every piece of information they had on the brand-new company. There were no registered mercenary companies working for them, no evidence of arms deals, nothing. Who provided them with weapons? Where did their security staff come from? How the hell did they have the money to employ a crack military force without their knowledge? Where did they keep such military power? He checked for any reports from ROM of John Deere's security force. A few pictures came up. One of them was infantry units which wore unmarked camouflage, save for the John Deere logo on the shoulders. Another was an unknown IFV model that was seen in the battle. Another was of a tank in the same battle. These vehicles were completely unknown to him and the ComStar internal database. According to the ROM report, these pictures were also sent to Terra for analysis. He hoped that Hilton Head could make sense of this.
The issue of the memory core remained. The location remained a mystery to him. His efforts to locate the old Star League cache on world had been fruitless, and it frustrated him to no end. It was then that a possibility dawned on him. What if John Deere had found the Star League base? What if these unknown vehicles were weapons from that long-lost age? The possibility hung in his mind, and he began to draft a plan of action. The ComGuard garrison on Helm would be insufficient in taking the facility by itself, but there were others he could possibly draw upon. First, he would need confirmation from Terra on what these vehicles were, then a more concrete plan could be put into motion.