CHAPTER 7
Author's Note: Long chatty chapter, but this is important. I want my characters to be 'humans', not just some 'robots' that dive into the heat of battle without showing any feelings. I like characters with flaws and vulnerability. It makes the story so much enjoyable to write (and hopefully to read).
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The Colonel and mobmal: Here's to you my loyal readers (know that I'm doing as fast as I can but I'm still slow compared to some other authors in this forum)
Buckminster, Buckminster Prefecture,
Benjamin Military District,
Draconis Combine,
December 13, 3072
The training incident attracted more attention than needed. The field instructor tried to deal with the episode internally but his superior, a ranking officer in the 2nd Sword of Light, decided to make a fuss about it. So now Noloty, the bullying cadets, and Enrique were called to a 'hearing' with the instructor and the ranking officer.
"What makes you think you can disregard rule of engagement, Cadet Noloty?" the instructor harshly barked. "I said it loud and clear, the cockpit was not a target!"
"Sir, my weapons did not work," Noloty replied. "I could not defend myself. I tried to get Command Control to stop the fight but I did not get any response. I had to stop the fight or I died, Sir,"
"The mech would shut down if damages reach critical. Your mech was still operational!"
"My mech had reached critical damages but it did not shut down, Sir. The front armor was gone and the structure had been compromised. One more hit and the mech would explode."
"Are you a battlemech technician, Cadet? Are you certified to make that judgment?"
"No, Sir, but I took apprenticeship at the mech hangar. I have basic knowledge of battlemechs functionality. The engine was exposed. If the engine was hit, the mech would explode."
"I have the report from techs, Cadet Noloty," the ranking officer spoke. "The Wasp is fine. Everything worked as expected. Are you claiming that nothing worked on the Wasp? The weapons, the comm set, the ejection system?"
Noloty expected this. "I don't know what to say, Sir. I could not get everything to work. The Wasp's battleROM should support my claim."
"The Wasp's battleROM is damaged," the instructor sneered.
"You can use the Thorn's battleROM to see that I tried to communicate with the Thorn's pilot."
"The Thorn's battleROM is also damaged. What do you expect, Cadet? You hit the Thorn's head with a concrete block!"
Noloty bit her lips. What were the chances that both battleROM were inaccessible? Just like in the training incident, somebody closed every exit so she was trapped inside a box with no way out. She had no proofs to back up her claim.
"In Cadet Noloty's defense, Sir, the Thorn pilot tried to shoot her cockpit," Enrique came to Noloty's aid. "And that after she failed to subdue Cadet Noloty's disabled Wasp."
"Only as a response to her violation, Sir," the silver-eyed girl rebuked.
"So two wrongs make it right?" the instructor shifted his wrath toward the silver-eyed girl. "You think you are the victim here, Cadet? You think you can hide behind her fault? You are as guilty as her, Cadet! Both of you are going to receive punishment!"
"Sir, she only reacted to Cadet Noloty's cowardly attack," the shaggy cadet with burnt scar defended his friend. "The most important rule of engagement is that you have the right to use force to…"
"Who asks you, Maggot?!" the instructor roared. "Speak out of turn again and I'll revoke your weekend pass! Is that clear, Cadet?"
"Sir, yes Sir," the shaggy cadet shrank.
"This was a one-on-one engagement, am I correct?" the ranking officer looked at the bullies one by one. "Who gave you permission to interfere with a one-on-one engagement?"
"Sir, we watched the fight and realized our friend was in danger," the brown-haired hellion said. "We took initiatives to protect our friend."
"You are not answering my question," the ranking officer growled. "Who gave you permission to interfere with a one-on-one engagement?"
Nobody answered the question.
"Then what's your excuse, Gunsho?" the ranking officer turned to Enrique. "Crashing a party?"
"I restored order, Sir," Enrique said. "The Wasp was at a severe disadvantage even when fighting the Thorn. Four against one was an insult to Bushido. More warrior virtues must be enforced to new recruits if we don't want the 2nd Sword of Light to succumb into barbarism."
"Are you telling me how to run my company, Gunsho?" the instructor snarled.
"I'm telling you how to do your job," Enrique boldly remarked, since he held equivalent rank with the instructor. "None of these should've happened under your watch!"
"I've heard enough!" the ranking officer interjected before Enrique and the instructor came to blows. "Gunsho Enrique, you are dismissed."
"Sir," Enrique saluted then walked out of the room, after stealing a quick glance at Noloty.
"You lot is a disgrace to 2nd Sword of Light!" the instructor yelled when Enrique had left the room. "We are not going to tolerate this abomination. You have 6 hours to pack your things…"
"We can't lose 5 cadets in a day," the ranking officer interrupted. "This batch is already thin, and the 2nd Sword of Light needs mechwarriors on all fronts. We will try administrative punishment." He paused for a deep breath. "One month of payment and weekend passes are forfeited. You are to do weekend labor instead. I will come up with the schedule starting next week. Consider this as your last life line. Screw this up, and I will make sure you will never work near battlemechs again. Is that understood, Cadets?"
"Sir, yes Sir," Noloty and the other 4 cadets replied in unison.
"You're dismissed," the ranking officer huffed. As the cadets saluted and turned, he called Noloty, "Cadet Noloty. There is no proof to support your claim that your Wasp malfunctioned. I could court martial you for lying to your officers. But I will give you the benefit of the doubt. I will reschedule your 1-on-1 training. Succeed, and I will turn a blind eye to this absurdity. Fail, and your career is over."
"Yes Sir, thank you, Sir," Noloty snapped a salute, then left the room.
Noloty was rushing to the barrack when Enrique caught up with her.
"Be grateful that it was only administrative punishment," Enrique grabbed Noloty's arm to stop her. "Your career is not in jeopardy, and that's the best thing."
"Grateful?" Noloty turned around and stabbed Enrique with her stare. "Permission to speak freely, Gunsho Enrique! Somebody wants my head!"
"Nobody wants you dead," Enrique replied tenderly so as not to aggravate Noloty further.
"First my weapons didn't fire whenever I wanted them to fire," Noloty gushed out her pent up frustration. "Then I called the instructor, and Command Center, only to speak to a wall. Then I tried to wave off but that… that… bitch in the Thorn wouldn't stop shooting at me! She knew I was in trouble! She knew it from the start, the way she cut me off from the Thorn. She knew the Wasp was rigged, and she made the most of it. And when I found a way to get out of trouble, her chums mugged me! And now I got punished for it! I almost got court-martialed because both battleROMs magically broke themselves apart so I have no proof! And you have the guts to tell me that nobody wants me dead?"
"First, think of who you are!" Enrique raised his voice. Talking gently to Noloty obviously didn't work. "Who are you? Who would benefit from your death? You're just a cadet, Noloty! You're not even a real mechwarrior yet! Nobody's gonna benefit from your demise!"
"Then how do you explain everything that had happened to me? Somebody went through a lot of trouble to put me in grave situation!"
"You want my theory?" Enrique paused briefly to gather his words. "They don't like you here."
"Who?" Noloty cocked her brows. "The bullies?"
"The bullies are just pawns," Enrique sighed. "We all are. No, this is higher up than the bullies. Much higher. My suspicion is that the Black Dragon Society doesn't want you in the 2nd Sword of Light."
"What? That's absurd!" Noloty took a step back, trying to digest what Enrique was throwing at her. "The Black Dragon Society has been nurturing me, providing good life, education, and even shelter after Word of Blake wiped out my family. Your suspicion doesn't make any sense."
"Black Dragon Society is a traditionalist, and you are not…," Enrique sighed again, "… traditional."
"What?"
"Look at how you fight, Noloty. You aim for center mass, like a Clanner. You jump like a Davion. You deceive like a Liao. And you punch and kick and wrestle your way like a pirate. None of them reflects the traditional Kuritan style of fighting."
"And that's a bad thing?" Noloty shook her head. "I do anything to survive."
"And it is a good thing. It is a very good thing. It's just not what they want to see in their ranks. I told you, stick with Kuritan doctrines. Those stuffs you read would bite you in the ass in the future."
"So they tried to kill me because I'm not a pure Kuritan?" Noloty's shoulders sank.
"Not kill. More like intimidate. The 2nd Sword of Light is an elite unit. The traditionalists do not want a non-traditional mechwarrior in an elite unit, since the 2nd Sword of Light is going to carry the name of the Draconis Combine to the front line. My guess is that they are going to make your life a living hell until you quit or ask for a transfer." Enrique stared at the ground for a moment. "But, you know, that's just my theory. I don't know anything. I'm just a pawn, like you."
"My father worked for Black Dragon Society," Noloty muttered. "I deserve better than that."
"You think your father deserve better than what he got?"
Noloty stood dumbfounded. "What do you mean by that? Do you know something about my father?"
Enrique didn't answer. He looked to every direction, making sure nobody was in their immediate vicinity. "You don't get this from me," he said faintly, half whispering, "and I do not know it for a fact, but I've heard of a Malche. He was sent deep behind enemy lines. I don't know the nature of the mission. I only know that the mission was compromised. However, to protect other interests, the Black Dragon Society did not get him out. He was left behind, at the mercy of the enemy's iron fists. Nobody had heard of him since."
"No!" Noloty burst into tears. "No, no, no, no, no, no, that is a lie!"
"I'm sorry you have to learn about it this way," Enrique regretted his decision to tell the story. But she had to know, sooner or later, that the Black Dragon Society was not what she thought it was. "But the story was true. Black Dragon Society would not hesitate to cut someone off, regardless his or her value. I just thought you needed to see the true nature of the Black Dragon."
Noloty buried her face in her palms, sobbing inconsolably. Enrique reached out to her, but she turned around and walked aimlessly, and he didn't want to press things further. Noloty had more than she could handle for one day. Enrique walked away, hoping that the next day would be a better day for her.
The rest of the day crept slowly by, but even when it was close to midnight Noloty was still wide awake. The female barrack was once full of hopefuls from all around Buckminster. Now there were only 4 of them left: the dark-haired hellion, the silver-eyed girl, Kayoko, and Noloty. Their snore sounded like an assortment of chainsaws low on lubricant, but that was not one that keeping her awake.
For the hundredth time Noloty turned on her bed, now lying on her belly. She was dead tired, but her mind wouldn't let her to sleep. Her brain was swimming in a sea of doubt. Her entire belief system was systematically dismantled. She didn't know what to believe anymore. She was consumed by rage, but she didn't know who she should get mad at. The Black Dragon Society, for having her father get killed? Her father, for not telling her what he actually did for the Black Dragon Society? Enrique, for telling her things she didn't want to hear? The bullying avatars, for being assholes?
"Wanna talk about it?" Kayoko suddenly sat on Noloty's bed.
"Nothing to talk about," Noloty turned her back on Kayoko.
"You're usually sound asleep within 5 minutes after your head hits the pillow. You exude negative energy more than those two bitches combined," Kayoko referred to the other 2 girls snoring in the distance. "Come on, I can smell your wrath from across the room."
"Sorry to bother you," Noloty pulled her blanket over her head. "Good night, Kayoko."
"Is it about the training?" Kayoko didn't take 'no' for an answer. "I know you're upset. Who wouldn't? But look at the bright side. It's going to be repeated. Your record will stay clean, and you get extra ass-kicking time in a battlemech. Can't get any better than that. It sucks you don't get to leave this dumpster on weekends, but there are plenty of things to do…"
"I don't care about the training!" Noloty shot up. Her lids were heavy with tears. "My whole life is a big damn lie! Why should I care about trivial matters like battlemech training, or bullies trying to take my head, or weekend labors!"
"Whoa whoa whoa, that's too deep even for you," Kayoko cringed. "What is going on?"
"I still remember the last time I saw my father," Noloty sobbed. Her tears ran down her face like rivers. "He promised me he would come back. He didn't, and I survived horrors after horrors by keeping his promise, hoping he would return one day, only to realize that the Black Dragon Society was the one that killed my hope. They sent him behind enemy lines then let him get captured and killed to protect things that are more 'valuable' than the life of my father."
"How did you come by this shit?" Kayoko looked intently into Noloty's eyes.
"Enrique."
"Enrique? And how exactly did he get this information?"
"Who cares?" Noloty bawled, almost uncontrollably. "For the longest time I believe that the Black Dragon Society was like a shepherd to my family. The very reason I join this training center is to return the favor of the Black Dragon, since they are like my own family after my real family is gone. But now Enrique said that the Black Dragon Society was responsible for my father's death. They sent him behind enemy lines and left him there in favor of other 'interest'. Things that are more valuable than his life. I'm fine with them disliking me here. But having my father killed? That was beyond low. My father was a loyal servant of the Black Dragon. What could be more valuable than the unconditional devotion of my father?" She looked up at Kayoko. "What if he wasn't a loyal servant of the Black Dragon Society? What if he was left to die was because he was dirty?" She buried her head between her knees.
"So what if your father wasn't loyal?" Kayoko inched closer to Noloty so she could wrap her arms around her. "The Black Dragon Society is not particularly a role model in the first place. It doesn't matter what people did to other people in the past. It doesn't make you less… you know, you."
"Easy for you to say," Noloty said bitterly.
"Look here, Noloty, you're my friend," Kayoko pulled Noloty's shoulder up so she could look straight into her face. "I won't let you sink into this nonsense. I will say this once: None of these matters."
Noloty perked her head and shot a nasty glare at Kayoko, but the orange-haired girl quickly raised her finger, cutting the cocoa-skinned girl off.
"Why do you want to become a mechwarrior?" Kayoko asked. "Money? Fame? Men?"
"I don't see the point of this," Noloty scoffed.
"Why do you want to become a mechwarrior? Paying your debt to Black Dragon Society? You could've become the CEO of Luthien Armor Works and supplied battlemechs to the Black Dragon, and the impact would've been many times fold than what you could've done as a mechwarrior. So why a mechwarrior?"
Noloty could only shot a blank stare at her friend.
"Because you're good at it, Sis! You're a natural behind the cockpit. You almost slaughtered the other cadet using a disabled mech. That speaks volumes of your talent. You know, growing up I used to hang posters of Star Colonel Michael Bekker from the Ghost Bear on my wall, foolishly dreaming that one day I will be kicking asses the way he did. You don't do that, because you know someday you'll be kicking asses the way he did. And you owe no one. You don't owe your father. You don't owe Black Dragon Society. It is what is you."
"I never think about it that way," Noloty stifled a whimper.
"So why bog down yourself with what people did in the past? None of them was instrumental in your decision to become a mechwarrior. None of them contributed something to your talent. Just remember your father the way you always remember him: as your father. As for the Black Dragon Society, we need to have a separate conversation about it. But don't worry about it right now. Just sleep it off. You'll feel much better tomorrow."
Noloty stared blankly at her feet for a long time, then raised her head to meet Kayoko's. "I guess you're right."
"Enrique picked the wrong time to tell you this nonsense," Kayoko sighed and leaned on Noloty's legs. "You were still upset about the training. He should've waited until you calmed down. You wouldn't be this wrecked if he did."
"He meant no harm," Noloty resisted the urge to yawn. "Come to think of it, I'm glad he did. It gives me a new perspective about the Black Dragon Society."
"Well then, you seem to have come to grips," Kayoko turned around to give Noloty a hug. "Trust me, none of these will matter. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever."
"Thank you," Noloty returned Kayoko's hug. "Thank you for being here."
"Hey, you know, I might not be as good a mechwarrior as you are, but I know some tricks," Kayoko smiled. She pulled back a little, and Noloty lurched forward as if she was losing control of her muscles. Kayoko realized that Noloty had fallen asleep in her shoulder.
"Never underestimate the power of shoulders to cry on," she pushed Noloty back until she lied down in her bed. Kayoko tucked Noloty in, kissed her in the forehead, then returned to her own bed.
