­CHAPTER 11 – "Kings in Opposition": Eaton: April, 3061

"Impossible."

Kith's projected visage on my HUD was incredulous, shocked, and did not contain his rage at all. He and Alvaria sat in the SitRep lounge and were conferenced in with me and Huntress.

"Sara and Kellie would not have betrayed the Colonel. We have undertaken dozens of missions together. There was never any disloyalty. It is simply impossible."

Kith could have been Zanshin's brother. They thought alike, acted alike, were similarly huge and menacing, and similarly deadly. I took a nice long drag on my cigarette, one of dozens I had confiscated from a captured technician in the firebase, before chuckling sardonically and replying.

"Well they have. They killed him in cold blood. This after orchestrating Terrance's death and they took a stab at me too, and I'm sure they would have gone for more if they could have."

"That makes no sense at all."

"Cadence intercepted a transmission just before the enemy dropship moved. The communication was heavily encrypted but he sliced it. He informed me that someone in our unit was transmitting to the enemy, something about hitting 'the target' and going on with the plan. There must have been a very large bounty on his head, and I'm guessing a bounty on the rest of us as well."

"Why didn't you inform us of this communication?" demanded Alvaria.

"No time. Plus it could have been any one of you. We couldn't afford to show our hand."

"Well you almost paid with your life for your secrecy Vance."

"No, I almost paid with my life for my trust. I trusted Sara without knowing her. Trust is what killed the Colonel, he trusted someone close to him that he didn't really know. You all did. You're equally responsible." I hit the cigarette again while Kith pounded his fist on the table.

"You're wrong!"

"Probably," I replied, "but this isn't getting us anywhere. We don't have a commander and we don't have objectives at this point. The point of this conference is to decide on both so we don't end up dead like our comrades."

Captain Alvaria Siampa put one hand on Kith's shoulder and spoke calmer than I expected.

"As to command, the Grenadiers belong to the estate of the Colonel now, but officially its my job to get the unit back to Hot Springs, as intact as possible, while fulfilling any mission objectives and contracts that are possible. Either we'll get a new commander then or the unit will disband."

"The real problem is that we're now down to five mechs, two fighters, and one dropship against six or more mechs and a dropship. Our numerical superiority is gone, our element of surprise is gone, and our enemy is up to god-knows-what after decapitating our command structure."

She had a good point. Any advantage we originally had was gone now. Any mechs we fought now would be veterans in state of the art machines, not rebel scum in outclassed trash with no organization or combat experience.

"Well, if we keep control of the firebase, that's a hefty chunk of change for us. I say we get the infantry in the structure, fix the artillery emplacements, put our recon team on our new hovercraft we've liberated and establish a roving patrol. Any enemy mech spotted by Kurato and his men will have to endure bombardment from the cannon before assaulting the structure."

"But we took control of it easily enough Leftenant, what's to stop them?"

Huntress didn't sound upset. I wasn't convinced she could get upset. She was as professional as they came, and of all of us, probably had the best chance of making it to retirement.

"For one thing, we're ready. Our troops will staff the damn turrets so they can't walk in for free. If the scouts spot them far enough off, we pummel them with artillery and follow it up with some air support. We have enough scouts to keep those hovercraft in the field indefinitely. Lets put our personnel to use. Get Johann on the cannon and get it operational, scouts to spot and fighters to strafe."

"I agree with you on this," said Kith, "Alicia and I will ensure the doom of any assault, even if hovercraft get driven off, I can spot for the cannon. If they try to bring the dropship, I shoot it down. I've shot down Unions before and know where to hit them." Kith was half growling his words, his eyes blazing with hate.

Huntress, ever the taskmaster, cocked her head to one side, thoughtfully running one hand through her hair, catching some stray strands and tucking them into the pony tail in back as she did.

"So we can hold the base. That's three mil and salvage. What's the next move?"

We were quiet for a bit. All thinking, calculating, crunching the numbers and weighing the odds. Alvaria broke the silence.

"It depends on what the enemy is doing. They've neutralized our direct attack capability, which was probably what their contract was for anyways. Someone in the rebel movement must be paying them to stay on planet, or they'd have left by now. Correct?" She raised one eyebrow and waited.

We all nodded slowly. That followed.

"We've broken the mech force of the rebellion, and fulfilled our two defense contracts, and we've now accounted for every known rebel mech on planet, minus the mercenaries, thus fulfilling our assault contract. If we hold the firebase we fulfill that contract as well. The only open contracts are protection and escort of the family here on the dropship, and the hit on the enemy mercs. As long as we leave the planet with the royals alive we get paid for that too. If we kill the mercs we get more pay, but the risk is too high at this point, and with the defections and death of the Colonel, we can legally back out of that hit without any difficulties."

But I want them all dead, my dear.

"I posit that our highest priority be to retain our current contracts, the protection of the royals and the firebase. We don't have to pay four mechwarriors now, so costs are down and our total pay on-planet is well over twenty million now, plus the salvage at the base. Vance, we can probably work something out where you keep the Awesome as replacement for Eltanin but forfeit other pay."

I started violently, which hurt, pain rippling up my right side along with the rage. Over my dead body, Captain! But before I could respond, she cut me off.

"Don't even start with me Leftenant. You'll come out way ahead and you know it, you'll be lucky if I can talk the accountants into letting you keep the mech at all. Even if you get a small IOU, the net result will be heavily in your favor so just drop it. And that's after we review Eltanin's black box battle log for a clear picture of what happened and determine that you acted honorably and deserve a salvaged mech."

My rage burned white hot now, but I took another drag and smiled a wolf's grin at the monitor as if to say 'Try to take it from me'. This mech was mine now. Mine all mine.

"So if we meet those objectives, we'll be up in supplies, after salvage anyways, positive twenty mil but down a commander and his mech, which belonged to the unit. We can hire new mechwarriors with our surplus cash, they'll just have to bring their own mechs."

"I agree," said Huntress "except technically Sara stole an Uziel that belonged to the Grenadiers as salvage on our defense contract. That mech belongs to us, and I doubt she's going to leave it for us somewhere. Recovering it would be very dangerous, to say the least. But at a minimum, we need to protect our two open contracts by holding the firebase and keeping the dropship hidden until its time to leave planet for good. Past that, we need to know what their plan is. We know they have at least one more contract, but the question is, what?"

I broke in then, extinguishing my cigarette and reaching for my water bottle.

"They've fulfilled their assassination contract on the Colonel, and can collect bounties on two Grenadiers, me and Terrance, as they think I'm dead, and they've led the resistance, probably helped themselves to all kinds of salvage off of those clowns. Its hard to know what they are contracted for though when we don't know who's paying them. As far as we know, the original employer is dead!"

Kith leaned back in his chair, cradling the base of his skull between interlaced fingers.

"Whoever it is now must also die." He stated it simply and with no emotion. Apparently his rage had subsided at least that much.

"Kith, we won't get paid for killing whoever it is," retorted Huntress.

"Honor is its own reward."

"Not in this line of work."

I chuckled and tipped an invisible hat to Ms. Paula Jalastar. It was hard to dislike Huntress when she was so blunt and accurate. What a delicious contradiction. A doctor performing surgery with a steel mallet, that's our Huntress.

"Huntress is right. Sure, I want them dead and I want that tin can of an Uziel, but its just bad business. A pitched battle with heavies over one patchwork salvaged inner sphere medium mech? Lets not throw good mechs after bad here. We've got two-hundred and fifty tons of heavy metal against Sara, Kellie, and their Marauder buddy plus a Viper, an Atlas, a Ryoken, and that damnable Warhammer. Those are the ones we know about, but there could be others. That's five hundred tons of advanced machinery, some of it clan tech, and these guys aren't pushovers."

I finished my water bottle, wished for some whiskey, but instead cracked open the pasty protein shake Cadence had given me. Healthy though it may be, it still looked like ground chalk mixed with curdled milk.

"What about the mechs in the capital and the mixed armor lances?" asked Huntress.

"What reason have they to help us? Its our contract to geek the mercs. They're perfectly safe holed up in their defensive positions. Here's another question that needs answering… why didn't Sara, Kellie and the Marauder turn on the rest of you after they thought they had killed me? They had enough firepower. For that matter, why did they leave?" I was thinking out loud now. It didn't make sense.

"They were outnumbered, and they had killed the Colonel, why risk losses?"

"Outnumbered maybe, but not outgunned. That Marauder could have taken out the rest of Bravo on its own, but by the time they had killed the Colonel and I rounded the corner, the Marauder was already out the South gate. I remember seeing it now."

My mind was now kicked into high gear. Something didn't add up. It would have cost a lot to buy Sara and Kellie's betrayal. Maybe as costly as attacking us head on. So they succeed in keeping us penned in at great monetary cost, reducing our numbers and inflating their own, but who is paying? Baron Fortunada was dead. I shot him myself. Why pay the mechbitches to defect when it is better to just leave the planet with your team intact after your employer dies? No more rebel meatshield either. Something was definitely rotten in the state of Denmark.

"You got a hunch Vance?" asked Alvaria, raising one eyebrow as she asked.

"Not yet. But it all adds up to something. That we know of, they have no reason to stay on planet. They move their dropship for seemingly no reason. They kill me and then run, even though the Colonel is already dead and they neglect to kill any of you, like they are in one hell of a hurry, while ceding a strong defensive position to us. Meanwhile we are in no position to attack them and are in fact vulnerable but they've pulled back. Its like they want us to stay put."

"Yes Vance," agreed Huntress "except, then they piss us off astronomically by killing our leader in an act of betrayal, then you, or try to anyways, and they steal a mech from us in the process. The move of the dropship and all this is more likely a trap to lure us to attack them at a place of their choosing when they're ready for us. When we didn't take the bait right away, they gave us a second reason to do so, betting our revenge motive. Kith is well known for that." Kith smiled wickedly as Paula continued. "We can't exactly leave this base without them knowing it, if they've got watchers."

True. I mulled it over and had to admit that it was possible. The truth was probably something in the middle, but something unexpected. Later I would turn out to be right. My hunches usually were. Alvaria straightened her uniform and concluded the conversation.

"Alright, enough talk. This is all useful speculation but we don't have enough data to go on. Paula, I want you to secure that firebase and be prepared to repel a full-scale assault, but lets defend it better than they did. Vance, help her out. Your job is to make sure that it costs them four or five mechs to even get inside. Get used to that Awesome because with it you can pick them off as they approach. I'll radio Kurato his orders, and Johann his. We'll get the cannon online and put scouts out in the field. I'll get Kurato on top of recon and try to find out what the hell is going on here. Meanwhile, I'll make sure we don't lose the family escort contract, you two make sure we don't lose the firebase. For now, that's the best we can do. Kith, I'm keeping you grounded so our position remains a mystery. Any questions, okay good."

I had several of course, but she didn't give us time to say anything before she disconnected.

"Alright, Huntress, I'll establish a roving patrol so I can get used to this tub. I'll be doing some gunnery so tell the infantry not to freak out."

"Copy that Eltanin. I want you back at 0900. I'll give Bravo a rotating sleep shift. The sooner you get back the better."

I worked the controls and coaxed Unukalhai to top speed, some 62 kilometers per hour. Compared to Eltanin, it was a beast. Wide, slow, and heavy. Built like an oak tree, solidly rooted to the ground. There would be no knocking this behemoth over. Best of luck to you on this one Sara…

I passed through the South gate and into the bright desert morning. It was quite pleasant actually, and the Awesome was running very cool. I had never driven a mech with such a tremendous heat dissipation capacity before. Eltanin hadn't needed much, and only ran hot when you really kept the PPC going. This mech had nearly twice the ventilation. The cockpit was as cool as a spring morning, crisp and fresh. Not fresh actually, maybe sterile was a better word.

I spotted a boulder about 400 meters out and set course to close the distance. I got to 300 meters and then brought my new mech to a stop. The targeting system would take some getting used to, but luckily I wasn't ammunition dependent. I lined up the shot and depressed the trigger.

Somewhere deep within the mech, three machines of frightening complexity were ordered to accelerate streams of charged particles to near the speed of light and disgorge them from heat resistant barrels. The particle beams were dimmer than usual in the bright morning sunlight, but still left burning afterimages on my retinas.

The two torso beams converged perfectly and completely vaporized the rock while the right arm beam crossed past to the left of the boulder. Miscalibrated

I swung Unukalhai forty degrees east to another target at 200 meters and tried again, this time the beam passed very close to the left side of the target. I opened the targeting system's command interface and recalibrated the reticle for the right arm PPC several degrees to the right.

After unleashing the man-made lightning on hapless boulders of varying ranges for the better part of an hour, I was very confident in my ability to bring all three blasts to bear simultaneously, and at any range. And through it all, the heat gauge barely got off the zero mark, staying in the green the whole time.

Coiled and ready, yes we are.

It was only 0830, so I gave the radar a sweep, then, seeing nothing, popped the cockpit seal and stepped into the mech's shoulder cleft. The air was fresh and very dry. I enjoyed the rest of my ration while I scanned the desert for signs of life and the enemy. When my ration was gone, I turned and urinated off the back of the mech, with the wind, and then re-entered the cockpit.

I was back in time to see the three hovercraft shoot out the South gate and split up, racing across the dunes and rock. One gunned straight for me, then veered off to the South while the others split and ran opposite directions along the South wall, then both broke partly north after clearing the corner. I grinned and waved to the inbound hot-rodder, pantomiming lining up a shot on him, before focusing my attention back on the firebase.

Bringing my mech into the bay, I reset the security measures and locked it down before dismounting. Solaria met me at the entrance to the mech bay.

"How's she running, sir?"

"A mech that big only lumbers."

She grinned and looked me up and down, grimacing slightly.

"How are you running?"

"Stiff, sore, and more than a little tired. These bandages itch like mad and I feel like a woman with no body hair. How about you?"

She grinned wider at my hair comment and turned to leave the mechbay.

"You men are so weak. Try waxing sometime and then get back to me."

Now it was my turn to grin as I set off behind her and followed her to the control tower where the infantry had set up a temporary barracks. I couldn't keep up, but that was all right. I was walking and I had a new mech already. This cat lands on his feet baby.

Zanshin's hatchetman at the North gate clanked his axes together before saluting with the larger one. I waved back and entered the tower. It was the last rest I got on the cursed planet of Eaton.