Robert H. Burns Memorial Maglev Station

Johannesburg, Carlisle

Lyran Alliance

25 March 3067

Liam finished dinner and sat back slightly, waiting with some anticipation as his father also finished up. His mother, unfortunately, had been taking the whole thing rather badly and had only picked at her food. For a moment, Liam though about seeing if he could have any of it, then decided that it would be a rather insensitive thing to do at present time.

Finally, his father finished and leaned forward slightly. "I suppose you know all about the Clan invasion of 3050," he started with a wry smile. "Despite our feelings against such things, you were surely taught about it in history of the Inner Sphere."

"Of course," Liam affirmed with a nod. "Then again, a lot of what we covered falls more into 'recent events' than history…"

"I'm glad it's over," his mother murmured. "Civil war is the worst kind of conflict. Brother against brother… parent against child…"

"Yes, well," his father broke in, turning back to Liam. "Thom, your second cousin once removed, was in one of the MechWarrior units that launched counterattacks into Jade Falcon space along with Victor Davion and his happy gang of murderers." It took no genius to tell that Bryan's attitude about war and the Davions had not changed a bit. "His ship, however, ended up arriving at the wrong jump point… surrounded by Clan vessels. They barely had enough energy to make a hastily-calculated jump to get them out of there."

Liam nodded, listening intently. He'd heard most of this story before, but it was always fun to hear it told again.

"They ended up arriving at an uncharted star somewhere that their star charts could not identify. So they recharged their drives and jumped again… and again… and again. Unknown to them, they were driving almost horizontally across the wedge of Clan occupied worlds. Finally, they arrived in an inhabited system that had been taken by the Smoke Jaguars."

"Their JumpShip was running low on liquid helium to cool their jump drive, so Thom's unit decided to take the fight to the Jaguars. After a long string of bloody battles, the remnants of the company finally defeated the garrison forces and secured their objective. But when they reached the spaceport and wrested it from the Jaguars, they found something which they did not expect…"

Liam leaned forward, paying keen attention. He'd never heard this part before. Somehow, he sensed they were getting close to the point.

"Evidently, the Smoke Jaguars were in the process of bringing academy units – what do the Clanners call them?"

"Sibkos," Liam supplied.

"That's right, sibkos. The Jaguars were beginning to locate them on conquered worlds. One of their higher officers—" A Khan or a saKhan, Liam mentally supplied. "—was of the opinion that having the action closer to the sibkos would inspire the warriors-in-training and excite them with the prospect of imminent battle. It would also mean that they had a reserve of warriors to throw into the battle if things went ill. In the aftermath of the action on the spaceport, Thom found that they had destroyed one of these sibkos by accident. There were only a few survivors. Although war is war, the unit felt bad about the entire mess and each one of the surviving MechWarriors adopted a Clan child. So their JumpShip, laden with captured Clan equipment, eventually made its way back into the Draconis Combine."

"I remember that," Liam commented. "In History, the comp-text mentioned that the granting of safe passage for their JumpShip was one of the things that led to rapprochement between the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine. Of course, since it was around the time of the Battle of Tukayyid, it was rather overshadowed in the news…"

"Mm-hmm," Bryan agreed, taking a sip of tea. "Of course, the loss of a sibko convinced the Smoke Jaguars that it was really better for them to keep new recruits in the Clan homeworlds, so that experiment turned out to be rather short-lived. I think that most of the other Clans never even knew of the program. But anyway… the sibko children were about five or six years old at this time and their training had not been going on for long at all. Their conscious memories of the Smoke Jaguars were removed so that they could have normal, happy childhoods.

"Thom had a good heart and wanted to raise the child that he had adopted, but he also knew that he had to keep fighting the Clans. So he turned that child over to relatives of his and took the Cauldron-Born as his own 'Mech. He, of course, fought in many more actions and had the chance to equip his 'Mech with the latest equipment just as our horrible civil war was breaking out. Unfortunately, he died in a bar fight and the 'Mech passed on to the child that he had originally extracted from the sibko." Bryan looked across the table with a serious look. "Those relatives were us… and the child was you."

Liam nodded, then jolted upright as the statement's full implications hit home. "Wait a minute… that would make me… a Clanner!" He burst out laughing. "Born in a test tube, bred to be a homicidal maniac!" He adopted a mock-pretentious tone. "You uncivilized stravag barbarians must be taught the ways of the blessed Kerensky, quiaff?" Liam continued laughing, unable to stop. "That's great! Tell me another one!"

As he looked into his mother's eyes, Liam's laughter trailed off. "Wait a moment. …It's true?"

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"But it's not," Liam protested, suddenly feeling all hilarity drain from the situation. "I don't feel the need to kill everything I see…"

"No," his mother replied sadly, "only the need to destroy every enemy 'Mech you see."

Liam shook his head again. "But Clanners are genetically bred for strength, quickness of reflexes—"

"Do you think that it was an accident that you took so naturally to the BattleMech simulator?" his father asked tiredly, mopping at his forehead with a napkin. "Back at the house, when you said you were born to do this, you were absolutely right." He let out a sigh. "Maybe we were fools to try and hold you back. Maybe all we did was hurt…"

As Bryan continued talking, Liam stared down at the table dumbly. He recalled with horrifying clarity the holos of the Smoke Jaguar command ship lasing the city of Edo on Turtle Bay. Concrete running like water… fortified buildings slumping and vaporizing…

There had been a reason that the new Star League had erased the Smoke Jaguars from existence. None of them deserved to exist… perhaps not even him. They were too violent, too eager to kill, too impatient. Of all the Clans, their campaigns had been the most brutal and merciless.

Could he claim to be any better? Liam considered in a new light the brief flashes of murderous rage he had felt at various points in his life. He remembered all the times when he had gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, wishing very much for a blunt object with which to beat a certain someone into a bloody pulp. Normal, or the product genetics refined for the sort of controlled rage needed to make Clan warriors?

Did he even deserve the chance that he had been given? Did he deserve to take charge of the awesome power of his Cauldron-Born? Could he be trusted not to go into some sort of murderous rage and kill everyone who he held dear?

"Liam?" his mother asked quietly.

Liam glanced up and blinked. Outside, the last colors of the fading sunlight stained the western sky. He must have been sitting there in his silent reverie for an hour or more.

"I… I'm okay," Liam said at last. "I just have a lot to think about."

He and his parents hugged each other, and for a moment, things were normal again. Liam held onto that moment of normalcy as long as he could before they broke and headed for the train station.

Still numb from the shock and engrossed in thought, Liam did not speak a word on the whirring ride back home.

It had been a long day.

Jenkins' Residence Johannesburg, Carlisle Lyran Alliance

25 March 3067

Liam turned to look at the clock once more. The glowing numerals on its face read 12:07. With a muffled curse, he rolled back over in his bed.

There was no escaping the fact that he wanted to be a MechWarrior. It was what he desired with all his heart. When he had looked upon the Cauldron-Born the previous afternoon, there had been no doubt in his heart that he was meant to pilot the awesome weapon of war.

And yet…

Sighing, Liam shifted his blankets into a new configuration and stared at the ceiling. Tiny dancing motes of color flickered across his vision as he peered into the darkness. No matter how much he might try to come to a conclusion, he could not. He had argued himself in circles all evening and all night long.

Two more days – well, actually one more day – was left until his eighteenth birthday. Liam felt that he should come to a decision by that time, a decision with which he could be comfortable. He wanted to be sure of the course of his life before he set out on it. It had been so easy to think that back when he hadn't known any of this, of course…

A flicker of light from outside Liam's window attracted his attention. Curiosity overcame his inertia and he slowly rose from his bed with a yawn. He drew back the window curtains, peering into the night.

Liam's first thought was that strange flares were shooting stars. But as he continued watching them, they did not die out. They also appeared to be decelerating on their own.

Funny, Liam thought. DropShips entering at combat speed would look something like that. Then it hit him: perhaps they were DropShips entering at combat speed.

The prospect seemed insane, of course. Even during the height of the FedCom civil war, Carlisle had never seen a single bit of action. Their planetary governor had been steadfastly easygoing and neutral in the interplay between House Steiner and House Davion. Still…

Liam threw back his covers and came a little unsteadily to his feet. He caught himself on the edge of the nightstand and turned on the local comm transceiver. Immediately, a signal so strong that it was distorted at the edges came pouring through the speaker.

"—has been neutral in this struggle too long. Against the tyrants of House Davion, there can be no neutrality. We of the Crimson Fists are here to return your world to its rightful alliance – by force, if necessary. House Steiner does not seek the conquest of other realms, but will tolerate no cancer within the heart of its own territory. You have one hour in which to declare total surrender… then, we will bring you to your rightful alliance. Again, this is a message from the Crimson Fists, the true voice of Steiner authority and values. Carlisle has been neutral in this struggle too long. Against—"

Liam frowned as he switched off the set, troubled. Their planetary government would never get its act around to doing anything within one hour. For that matter, no planetary government in the entire Inner Sphere could make that claim. Surely, these Steiner radicals knew this.

There's only one explanation, he concluded grimly. They came here looking for a fight. For what purpose, I cannot guess… but the facts seem to point to it. After all, if they just wanted the allegiance of Carlisle, they could have stayed in orbit and threatened a landing without ever having to do anything.

He had seen three DropShips touching down. Three DropShips could hold anything up to an entire battalion of 'Mechs between them. As far as Liam knew, the only forces that they had on their planet were a number of mechanized infantry units, some medium and heavy tanks, and four old BattleMechs.

The addition of a Cauldron-Born OmniMech with the latest in laser technology would certainly shift things a little…

Liam stood frozen a moment in indecision, a moment that seemed to last for at least two lifetimes. His decision had to be made now. Would he trust himself to fight against these self-proclaimed Steiner loyalists and thereby give his inner Smoke Jaguar the chance to emerge? He tottered on the brink of indecision. Images of Edo burning flashed though his mind again, and he shook his head. No. I dare not. He sank to the foot of his bed and put his head between his hands, trying to convince himself that he had made the right decision.

A hollow boom echoed through the air and loose objects on the dresser rattled. With a frown, Liam opened his curtains again. An enormous plume of smoke backlit by fires climbed into the sky not thirty klicks south of the city. Liam's mouth went dry. Blake's Blood! They just hit the refinery!

A sudden thought crashed into Liam's mind. These Crimson Fists weren't intending to take the planet. After all, the petrol refineries were one of Carlisle's major resources.

They were intending to scour the planet clean.

A part of Liam nagged at him that it was too quick a judgment based on the one strike, but Liam knew that it was true.

And here I sit, the owner of a 'Mech that could stop them, with enough training to do at least a little damage, Liam chastised himself, rising to his feet. There is no time to doubt myself – someone needs to do something. That someone is me.

He snatched the chip from the dresser, taking the stairs two at a time as he ran down towards the door. As his hand hovered over the doorlatch, he considered turning back and bidding his parents farewell – but time was of the essence, and they would know exactly where he had gone. He punched the release button, bolting out the door and down the street. By the time it shut again, he was halfway to the train station at the end of the block.

If the maglevs are still running, I'm in business…

Distant rumbles sounded as though from a summer thunderstorm, and Liam knew that some of the garrison forces had joined battle. Time was growing short.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Triptych: Thanks for the review and the words of encouragement! I know the Cauldron-Born is a little implausible, especially at that point in the story, but in my mind it's the one 'Mech that best represents Clan Smoke Jaguar. And you must agree, the Primary configuration rather sucks... Hopefully, this explanation didn't stretch the BattleTech universe too far.

TxAGunfighter: Thanks! Hopefully, this was soon enough for you... ;) I will be writing and posting the rest as quickly as I can. Hopefully, real life won't get in the way too much.