CHAPTER 11

Author's Note:

I may bump the rating to 'M' in the future but for now I'll stay with 'T' and see where things go *wink*wink*

Review Corner

Ulquiorra9000: Most of the time my artwork drives my text, especially 'sexy' time like this. I know it's not a good practice, but I'm a visual man. I draw, therefore I write =D


Buckminster, Buckminster Prefecture,
Benjamin Military District,
Draconis Combine,
February 19, 3073

The officer's quarter was small and cramped, more claustrophobic than battlemech cockpit. The walls were only 10 feet apart at the widest. The unit only furnished the 'box' with a single bed and a small desk. No chair to sit on, no cupboard for clothes. The bathroom was just a small indentation near the foot end of the bed, smaller than an airplane lavatory. But despite the deficiencies, it was private. Unlike the barrack, only one officer stayed in the quarter… unless the officer brought in a 'guest'.

Noloty sprawled naked in the afterglow, with her butt halfway off the edge of the bed. Her toes touched the cold metal floor, giving her a sense of freshness in the otherwise steamy quarter. Her head rested on Enrique's stomach, who lied almost perpendicular with her. Her left arm slipped underneath his calf, hard as steel, while her right rested on his chest. Her chest undulated in the dimly lit room, and the faint light bounced off her breasts, covered in sheen of sweat.

"How are you feeling?" Enrique asked and stroke Noloty's hair, dank in sweat.

"Hmm…" she breathed almost inaudibly. Her right hand drifted to his midsection, tracing his overly-pronounced pectoral muscles. "Kayoko was right about you."

"Yeah?" Enrique laughed. "Well, she was right about you too."

"She was?" Noloty giggled. "What did she say about me?"

"That you are kind of cold and standoffish, but once you open up, you're warm and juicy."

Noloty giggled again, more audibly this time. "That is so not true!"

"It is so true. You have your guard up all the time. It is hard to get to you. But once you let someone in, you have no trouble having fun. Lots of fun. Toe-curling, back-scratching, hair-pulling, screaming-out-loud fun, three times."

"Oh my god," Noloty covered her face with her palms. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"Do you regret it?" Enrique slowly coaxed her to change position.

"No, I love it!" Noloty dragged herself to align her body with Enrique. She had never had so much trouble using her muscles; even during that agonizing duel against the bald cadet with blue tattoo. She always had good control over her physical functionality, but Enrique systematically dismantled her, turned her body into a heap of flesh, until all she could do was to convulse helplessly in unadulterated pleasure. "I had never felt that way before. But there is a regulation against fraternization within the same chain of command. You could get into trouble."

"Nobody cares about regulation," Enrique scoffed. "What, you think I'm the only one doing this?"

"You're the only one doing it within the same chain of command."

"It doesn't matter who is going out with whom. Let them all know," Enrique leaned forward. "Just follow my lead." He mashed his lips against her while slipping his hands under his pillow to take another sachet of condom.

Noloty closed her eyes and accepted his warm lips, entangling her fingers on his dark hair. She never surrendered herself to a man before. But she knew that she could trust him, and whatever he would do, he would do it for her own benefit. She surrendered herself to be a slave of her own pleasure. She felt like a slut, and she loved it.

Just as Enrique positioned himself on top of Noloty, the PA blared. "All cadets, report to the command center. All cadets, report to the command center."

"Hmmh… I've been summoned," Noloty painfully disengaged her lips from Enrique's. She pushed him and pulled herself up to get her clothing, dangling her succulent breasts on his face. He greedily captured one between his lips.

"No, no… ohh, please don't…stop…" Noloty was torn between responsibility and the urge to have another toe-curling, back-scratching, hair-pulling, screaming-out-loud fun. Enrique's talented mouth sent tingle from her toes that swept upward. But at the same time her brain sent out a cold, cruel pulse to get her act together, because if she missed that general assembly, not only she would send herself into a sinkhole, but also drag Enrique with her.

"Stop! Stop!" she found the will to wrest her breast from his mouth. "I have to go! We'll get into a shitstorm if I miss it!"

Enrique groaned in disappointment, and started gathering his own clothing. "What could they possibly want from you, at this time of day?"

"It could be important," Noloty pulled up her pants and quickly slung her t-shirt over her head. "Maybe something's happening. Let's just deal with it first."


The instructor didn't care that Noloty was the last one to arrive at the command center. He didn't care that Noloty walked like a battlemech with a damaged gyro. And he didn't care that Noloty arrived with Enrique, even though he was not summoned. He stood fast in front of a holographic map showing Draconis Combine territory.

"A few days ago DCMS listening posts detected Lyran warships around the worlds of Sakhalin, New Wessex, and Alexandria," the instructor said as he highlighted the aforementioned planets. "Lyran Alliance claimed that this maneuver is not directed at DCMS or Ghost Bear Dominion, but a mere precaution to booster local planetary defenses against potential Word of Blake incursion. But ISF believed that this Lyran maneuver is indeed directed at Buckminster and Vega. As soon as Word of Blake threat is gone, the Steiners are going to strike Buckminster and Vega from those positions.

"In order to counter this maneuver, Black Dragon Society decided to send a diversionary task force to Lyran's planet Strantor. It is deep inside Lyran territory, but it is close to Lyran's main battlemech facility at Coventry. The objective of this task force is to take out Strantor Military Academy. This attack will deceive the Steiners into believing that Draconis Combine is going to strike Coventry Metal Works. They are going to pull their warships at Sakhalin, New Wessex, and Alexandria to fortify Coventry. By the time they arrive at Coventry, our task force will be long gone."

"Strantor Military Academy," Noloty whispered. "Those are just kids!"

"Shht!" Enrique put his finger on his lips. "Pay attention! This could be your first campaign."

"Our forces are spreading thin across the Inner Sphere, so we are sending you cadets to Strantor," the instructor continued. "We have established a Black Dragon sleeper cell at the capital of Strantor since the start of FedCom Civil War. You are to contact our sleeper cell which will guide you throughout your mission. Take out Strantor Military Academy. Planetary defense is minimum, with only training cadre defending the academy. You should have no problem with them."

"With all due respect, Sir, the four of us are not going to Strantor," the bald cadet with blue tattoo spoke conceitedly. "Once we graduate from this facility, we are going to Luthien."

"Your directive has been overturned, Cadet," the instructor replied indignantly. "You are going to Strantor!"

"That is not our order, Sir!" the shaggy cadet with burnt mark on his face joined in.

"It is now! The decision has been made! You all are going to Strantor!" the instructor looked at each cadet like he was about to swallow them whole. "Congratulations, Cadets! You all are mechwarriors with the rank of Heishi! Truck leaves in 24 hours. Pack all your things. You are not going back to this facility in a long time, if at all. Dismiss."

"Sir! This is a mistake…" the dark-haired hellion raised her voice.

"Dismiss, Mechwarrior!" the instructor roared. "You have your order! Carry it or go to court martial!"

Noloty could only stare blankly at the holographic map showing Lyran territory, centering on Strantor.


"This is not what I saw myself as a mechwarrior," Noloty propped her head with her arm, trying to get it straight as she toyed with her shot glass. Three more were stacked upside down in front of her. She could barely open her eyes from all the liquor she consumed, but somehow she found the strength not to embarrass herself in front of tavern customers. "I want to fight the toaster worshippers, not some teenagers deep inside Lyran Alliance."

"What's wrong with it?" Kayoko slurped her cocktail through the straw.

"What's wrong with it?" Noloty slurred. "They're teens. Students. Fifteen-sixteen years old. They're kids! Virgins. Some probably still haven't had their balls dropped. Maybe not even get pass boot camp yet. The real enemy is out there. Luthien. Styx. Dieron. Al Na'ir. Terra. Those worlds reek the stench of Word of Blake. That's where I should be. I should be at the front line."

"You had enough of this shit," Kayoko took Noloty's shot glass from her hand. "Look, Noloty, we are soldiers. Warriors. Samurais. We go wherever we are sent to. We fight whoever our leaders want us to fight. We don't get to choose our battle. I know you want avenge family, but the top brass see some other use of you. All you can do is fight and win. That's what a warrior does."

"I want to fight the Word of Blake," Noloty threw a weak stare at Kayoko.

"I know. I want to fight Word of Blake too, but it's not gonna happen. DCMS will not send a militia unit to fight Manei Domini."

"How do you feel about it?"

"Suck. I'm a mechwarrior. I trained to be a mechwarrior. Driving around in a hovertank sucks. But…" Kayoko lit up a cigarette between her lips, "I'm a soldier. I know my place in the chain of command. You should too. It's the only way you keep your sanity in this place."

Noloty reached out to hold Kayoko's hand. "You're a good friend, Kayoko. I'm gonna miss you."

"Hey, it's the life we choose," Kayoko squeezed Noloty's hand. "Don't try to be a hero out there, okay? I don't need a hero. I need a friend. A living friend, with all 10 fingers and toes attached."

"Same to you."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Kayoko puffed a long trail of smoke. "I'm in a garrison unit. It's a miracle if I have to jump to another system."

The tavern was moderately crowded, so the voice of drunken people - and the amount of alcohol she consumed - overwhelmed Noloty's senses. Next time she realized, Enrique was standing next to her.

"I thought I would find you here," he grabbed a chair and hailed the server. "Timbiqui Dark, please." He popped the cap of the bottle and chugged about a third of the beer. He raised his bottle to Kayoko, which she met with a toast. "Great to see you, Kayoko. How're you holding up?"

"Can't complain," Kayoko winked. "You?"

"Great," Enrique said, then chugged another third of the bottle. "Life is good."

"Are you following me?" Noloty slurred halfheartedly.

"Yes, because you're gonna need a ride back to the barrack. Can't leave my lance mate behind."

"What?!" Noloty perked her head up. "Lance mate?"

"You're going to Strantor too?" Kayoko tuned in.

"I requested a transfer. Since Kayoko left, there were only 11 cadets remained. The Black Dragon was going to pick some random bloke to complete the company, but I volunteered. They granted my request." He stripped his jacket to reveal 3 blue bars on his sleeve. "You're looking at the commanding officer of Strantor Diversionary Task Force. Chu-I Enrique."

"Nice, man!" Kayoko raised her cocktail glass. "Congratulations! To Chu-I Enrique!"

"Chu-I Enrique!" Noloty followed suit but accidentally spilled the liquor on the table.

"To us!" Enrique raised his beer bottle. He emptied the bottle then slammed it on the table. "This is a chance to prove ourselves as mechwarriors. We'll go in and strike like ninjas. Those Lyrans will never know what hit them. Then, maybe we'll get our chance to fight the real enemy of the Draconis Combine: the Word of Blake." He winked at Noloty. "You and me, Babe. Together, we'll send the Word of Blake to where it belongs."

"I'll drink to that," Noloty said, before the liquor overwhelmed her completely.


END OF BOOK I