Pearls in the Deep

            It was quite a beautiful world really, the dust brown sphere that was called Addicks. It was barely some days ago that Koshimitsu Jun was enjoying its warm climate and the slightly more than standard gravity.

But, some days ago, that all ended as well.

In his seat, the first and only son of Koshimitsu Han-Xin gazed upon that very same dust-colored world he had enjoyed for a short time. How long was it that he and his father had spent there, two weeks? Three? He did not remember now. All he felt was the lingering traces of sadness and anger that stirred his heart. Jun never was one for keeping emotions storming in his inner heart. He let them lie as focused gems of power, from which he drew strength. Now that a gem of vengeance had been made, it would be put to use very soon, and very directly indeed.

He spun around in his chair partway, then stood up. As he rose, he met the gaze of the one he knew as Gotsu. The older, somewhat portly, man looked upon Jun with grief at his own failure, and opened his mouth to apologize once more. Jun shook his head once, quickly and violently, accompanying it with an abrupt gesture with his hand. "Stop it, Gotsu. I've told you already, what has passed, has passed. There is nothing now, but to look to the future."

The former chef's mouth worked up and down, then closed shut. The man had a downcast expression. Jun noted this and decided to put an end to the nonsense that had taken over many of his father's personal servants and his guards. "Gotsu, tell me first. Gotsu is not your true name is it?"

The other quickly looked up, and shook his head. "No, young master. It is not." He paused for a short while, as if debating what to say. "My true name, is Koyakawa Kaiden." Jun looked on the man, frowning.

Koyakawa Kaiden? That name is so familiar.

"I served under your grandfather, a long time ago. In the Blakist War, as his second hand." Gotsu, or Kaiden, spoke softly seeing the questioning gaze Jun had lowered upon him.

"You were the one called, the Tsunami? The mechwarrior?" Jun said, almost incredulously, but in the past week he had expected something of the like. Still, it was hard to believe that the old man, already in his middle seventies, was once a skilled and talented mechwarrior. "And you came into my father's service, how?"

Kaiden allowed himself a faint, sad, smile. "Ah, it is a story that would take more time to tell then I believe you would or could want to spare, young master. At least, at this moment." Jun nodded. The man he knew for so long as Gotsu the master chef, was actually Koyakawa Kaiden, a veteran of the last war. From what he could remember of his grandfather's tales by his lakeside home, of the most memorable was a tale that said that Kaiden and his lance had once held an chokepoint alone for over ten minutes against nearly a company of Blakists, using the terrain and his superior skills very well until reinforcements had arrived in the form of his grandfather and his company.

Too much has happened, these past few days. Jun shook his head and turned back to the viewglass, where hundreds of kilometers away, no, some thousands, the forces of Tomark's Dragon's Fury clashed with the troops of the loyalist Highlanders. Nebulous, these things that have befallen me.

He turned around once more to face Kaiden. "Kaiden, then. I will call you that."

"I had not thought I would be called that name once more." The old man sighed wearily, but in a moment straightened with remembered pride. "If you wish so, young master. It does feel good to be called by my real name once again."

Jun nodded. "Good." He gestured out at the viewglass, which showed the planet Addicks. "On that planet, Tomark's minions fight. To control the oil fields." Kaiden nodded, not quite sure at what his young master what getting at, but also somewhat guessing what it would be. "She will not take it. I know not what my father would have wished me to do, but I know for one that he would not want her to succeed. Otherwise, he would have helped them, and Addicks would have now fallen much faster."

Kaiden nodded carefully, agreeing with Jun's words, his guess right. "Yes, indeed. But—"

"But what?" Jun frowned, shaking his head. "Kaiden. The resources at our command are quite—" Jun paused as he searched for the right word, then finding it, spoke, "—potent, are they not? The networks my fathers have lying dormant, that I have no doubt you know of, should be just as potent if not more so as those I do know of." He straightened his back, looking at the older man with a steely gaze. "With these, we shall strangle Tomark's ambitions, and bog down this self-proclaimed Dragoness." He emphasized the last part of his statement by clenching his fist firmly.

Kaiden slowly smiled at those words. "I see. Well then, I have some thoughts in mind, which are the practical things to do. I will get in touch with your father's old links and contacts. Perhaps Tomark had made a incredible mistake this time."

"No." Jun spoke out abruptly. "She did make a mistake. My father's blood flows through my veins, and I shall be the katana that cleaves the throat of the Duchess. For now, I shall need a suitable ride. I suspect you know of what I mean, Kaiden?"

"Aa, that I do, young master. I shall see to this immediately." Kaiden bowed, backing away from Jun, who had turned once more to face the world of Addicks outside, as he stood hidden upon one of the moons of the now war-torn planet. The fell mood vanishing in most part from him, the aura that surrounded him fading, but still there just lying beneath the surface.

Outside, as Kaiden strode off in the corridor, a peculiar smile graced his lips. "Well done, Son of Han-Xin. I'm glad I did not have to spur you to action." He slowed for a moment as he entered the small 'mech bay of the hidden base. "The blood of the Koshimitsu flows truly in your veins, young Jun. And noble it truly is." The prideful expression faded slightly, then he smiled once more. "I wonder if the Dragoness will appreciate the irony, that he serves to be the beginning of her downfall." The old man continued onwards, passing by the few massive titans that stood silent as he traversed the cold, steel floor.

A few calls to various people around the prefecture got things started for Jun and is birth of a resistance against Tomark, though as of yet he had no specific means of which to exact his anger. Kaiden and Han-Xin's former head of security, Kaokatsu, began working immediately after the older man had approached Kaokatsu with the results of his most recent meeting with Jun. The efficient networks or contacts and allies that Han-Xin and his father before him had made long ago, lying dormant indeed as Jun used the word, was now slowly awakening. Across the various planets, the many former comrades of Jun's father heard the news, and responded favorably in how they would deal in their own ways to aid Junzo and hinder Katana Tormark's ambitions.

It was around this time too, that Jun and Kaiden returned to Addicks. Managing to drop on planet with a group of elite soldiers and some support crew, they returned to the ruins of the Koshimitsu estate. There was no one here now, the once grand estate of verdant green and one of the city's marvels in architecture was burned and destroyed in one of the recent assaults. Jun looked on the devastated grounds sadly, his footsteps on the soil muffled and somewhat overshadowed by the distant sounds of fighting and gunfire. He nodded to his men, and they spread out to search to blackened grounds where the manor had once stood. Jun walked to the center of the ruin, and began searching for what Kaiden had described to him.

"Junzo-sama, I've found it!" One of his guards waved, gesturing the rest over. He jogged towards the man, and saw it. It was a small panel, hidden beneath some wreckage. Jun noted that it was where the kitchen's storeroom once was, beside Kaiden's own quarters. He knelt and took a small card out of his pocket, and looked back down.

He brushed off the dirt from the panel and slid the card into the slot. A moment later, the panel opened up to reveal a tiny aural sensor and scanner screen. He put his hand on the screen, which hummed as a flash of light scanned the lines of his hand. At the same time, he spoke the words Kaiden had told him too. "Shiro no Ryu." The panel beeped twice, and shone green, then sank into the ground. He stood up and took a few steps back as some of the wreckage nearby began to shudder. A small entryway revealed itself in the ground, showing him a set of stairs leading into the darkness.

The leader of the guards nodded to his comrades and waved them down. Two took up positions beside Jun, while a vanguard of two pairs descended with their compact assault rifles at the ready in firing position. A second pair went down partway to secure the stairs. A few seconds later, they heard the all-clear signal, and a set of light powered up, dispelling the darkness from the underground chambers. Jun walked down the stairs, and descended into a small room, with an elevator. He placed his palm on it again, which caused the doors to open. He walked inside with four guards, as it wasn't quite a large elevator.

It descended quickly, Jun could feel the gravity leaving slightly, then increasing as they slowed down. The doors opened into another darkened chamber, this time much larger than the one upstairs. One of the guards switched on the lights, and with an audible sound, they turned on to blaze down and sweep the darkness from what Jun now recognized as a 'mech bay. His eyes widened in surprise at the familiar forms of the great war-machines. Behind him, one of the guards mumbled, "Kami-sama…incredible!"

Incredible, that was very accurate Jun said silently to himself. In this day and age, especially in this part of the galaxy, battlemechs were a rarity. To find four such awesome weapons of war here, beneath his home was mind-boggling. "Get the others down here." He spoke softly, one of the guards complying and heading back up to the surface. He ran his hand on the nearest such 'mech, a customized Centurion. The chassis was basically an old design despite its cosmetic modifications, and from its looks it seemed that Han-Xin had not spared any of his wealth on keeping the 'mech updated. Jun recognized the external appearances of old Inner Sphere weapons, and the ones that had come to be developed during and after the Clans had invaded. This is undoubtedly one of the more modern systems, he commented.

He moved on, sparing a look at the 'mech on the other side, a 'mech of principally Clan design, the Shadow Cat. How did father get this one? A Clanner battlemech at that. He knew that Kaukatsu and Kaiden probably knew, something he would ask the pair later on. He moved on from the first pair, to the other two that was housed in the chamber. One was an incompletely repaired, or heavily modified Junzo amended as he saw the pristine condition of the 'mech, Hatchetman. His father was probably working on this the night before he died, Junzo realized, seeing the nearby consoles still alight in stand-by mode. A hard feeling surfaced within him, and he shoved it back down. It was not the place to remember the past and break down. He went over and tapped the nearest screen, which came alive quickly. He gave it a cursory look, noting that his father had been planning to replace the hatchet with something else. A katana, it seemed, from the looks of it, or a sword of similar dimensions. He shook his head, still keeping his feelings in control, but barely, as he placed the console in stand-by once again and continued his inspection of the hangar. The last 'mech was another medium 'mech, like all the rest in the hangar, a Shadow Hawk, and also like all the rest cosmetically modified.

All in all, a pretty formidable force, especially nowadays in the Republic, where most 'mechs were merely of the IndustrialMech types, and the few battlemechs there were in the hands of the military or militias. A far cry, he noted, from a mere century or so ago, where every planet of decent prosperity had much more then just a few single 'mechs of such ability. The relative silence was interrupted with the arrival of the elevator once again, and another complement of guards, this time with a few technicians and Kaiden himself.

"How did you hide all this, Kaiden?" Junzo asked the man, who was walking slowly over to him, an expression of peculiar peace on his face. Oddly, he had little difficulty performing the transition of names.

"We have ways, young Jun." The old mechwarrior replied, a faint smile on his face. He quickly bulldozed over any further comments or inquiries along that line by raising up a hand at the four 'mechs. "Magnificent things, aren't they? Your father collected them and worked on them over the past years, especially when he let your uncle take over as head of KWU and gave up majority control over its sister corporations, Dynasty Technologies and Liu-Han Retail. The portly man sighed wistfully. "He put much of the profits from those into these." Junzo listened silently, letting the man explain indirectly how his father had managed to acquire the 'mechs. He was too young then to wonder where all the money had gone when his father did that, some years back. After all, he was a child back then.

And indeed, perhaps even now I am still, in some ways. He contemplated that thought for a while, before the growing sounds behind him broke him from his brief reverie. He turned to see the techs and soldiers preparing to retrieve the 'mechs, and transport them out. He wondered how, when he noticed that there were two large bay doors ahead, one of them leading away from the city, he surmised. A hand came on his shoulder then, Kaiden's, and the old man squeezed his shoulder.

"Come. There is something your father would have wanted to show you." The man's voice was tinged with a bit of grief still, but he was coping with it quite well. Junzo followed the man silently towards the second bay door, where he saw a complicated control panel. Kaiden placed his hand on it, and entered a series of key codes. After a moment, it chimed softly, and the doors began sliding open. A low and deep hum filled the hangar as it opened to a darkness, with a shadowy form that Junzo knew was a battlemech within. Kaiden turned up the lights, and the form that greeted Junzo's sight was breathtaking. A modified No-Dachi lay before him, apparent from the numerous cosmetic alterations that served to make the 'mech look more fearsome and yet more pleasing as well aesthetically. Junzo looked at the heavy 'mech, admiring the flows and edges, lines and curves. The 'mech was more streamlined, though it was a touch larger then what he expected. Kaiden interrupted his observations, and spoke. "This 'mech is your father's masterpiece, young Junzo. He always wanted to make his own 'mech design, even if it was based on an older one. With my aid, and that of another close friend, we finished this last year. You father named it a No-Dachi Mark II, the "Silver Dragon". It truly is a different 'mech though, and one of a kind as of now, though your father did leave some plans behind." Kaiden turned to look at Jun, who was looking up at the 'mech silently. He walked over to it, and like he did with the first 'mech, he ran his hands over the foot of the 'mech. "Your father always wanted you to have it, Jun-kun, it was going to be his present for you someday, he told me." Junzo nodded slowly, continuing to caress the ferric hide of the gargantuan war-machine.

Perfect.

"Let's get to work, old man." Junzo smiled, a feral grin on his face.

Reviewer Responses:

The Nice Guy

Thanks for reviewing man, I know that you're among the most respected BattleTech/Mechwarrior Fanfiction writers and online gurus around. Having you favorably speak of my work is a great boon, and here's to hoping I'll be able to keep that edge. And excellent work on your own story, keep it up.

Tremor3258

Thanks to you as well, as I can see you write a lot, and I tend to respect writers with work more then not…then again, most of you are, but I'll not keep going and get my foot stuck in my mouth or something like that.

Just a comment though, I'm writing in the setting of Mechwarrior:Dark Age. Which, admittedly I will be changing (of course) but I will try to retain the general flow of the storyline that WizKids is putting out. I'm getting my hands on the recent novels soon, so most of my info. is kind of based on the FedCom-Civil War timeline books and what I can scrounge out from the Net and my games, which fortunately includes Mechwarrior 2 (the most accurate one in comparison to the Btech system). In any case, I'll end my pointless rambling now. Read, Review!