CHAPTER 14

BRIDGES OVER TROUBLED WATER

Review Corner

The Colonel: Oh, he will. You know he will. Stay tuned.

Harlech, Outreach,
Chaos March,
January 31, 3065

"The jumpship to Chara III will leave port in 8 days," Trystan broke the news as Saskia, Lei Fong, and Osiris gathered at the hangar. "There should be enough time to recruit a few new members to join our cause. However, there is somebody in Solaris VII that I would love to join us. He was not much of a man, but his skill inside the cockpit was second to none. I saw him fighting in the arena. He beat up a Ryoken with an Assassin, and he would've finished it if he didn't give up too much tonnage. I would love him to join us."

"So what does that mean?" Lei Fong coughed up his skepticism. "Are we going to Solaris?"

"Yes, we are," Trystan replied carefully, as if expecting heavy resistance from the others. "The jumpship will leave in 2 days. We have 48 hours to do what we must."

Lei Fong burst into discontent, laden with blasphemies. Osiris didn't say a word, but his body divulged what he really felt about Solaris – which Trystan expected, considering Clanner's perspective about combat. Saskia, on the other hand, didn't show much emotion but Trystan knew she would voice her displeasure the harshest.

"How far beyond Outreach?" she asked impatiently.

"Four jumps, about two to four weeks."

"Far removed from words to Commander Sheila Arla Vlata."

"I know, but I need the guy," Trystan drew a deep breath. "He was good, really good. He could tip the balance to our direction when we fight the Blazing Aces. You have been in the military, haven't you, Saskia? You know how encouraging it is to fight with a close friend by your side. The same with this guy. I know what he can do, and I want him by my side."

"How much longer must we suffer your vanity?" Saskia spoke solemnly, but everybody could feel the gravity of her statement. "Outreach, Solaris, Chara III? What lies beyond?"

"Look, we have discussed this matter before!" Trystan had enough of Saskia's constant nagging. "The only one that has knowledge of your home planet is Clan Wolf, and they will not give it to you freely! We have to fight for it, and we need an army to fight Clan Wolf."

"We are an army!" Saskia blurted. "You, me, Osiris, Gilvy, your battlemech… what more do you need?"

"This is not enough! You don't know Clan Wolf! They are quick, they are slick, they are insincere! We can't fight them with just one battlemech and one rotting zoid! We need more! We need the Blazing Aces!"

"A recruitment! Outreach is ripe with able hands eager to fame and riches, easily procured for our cause! Turn eyes from Blazing Aces, and head towards business!"

"I gave you my word, and I mean to keep it!" Trystan gritted his teeth. "I will take you home, no matter how long it takes! But make no mistake, my business is to avenge my mother and get the Blazing Aces back from the fiends that murdered her! I will seize whatever chance I have to make it happen!"

"This is what spurs intent to force us in your path, for the memory of your mother?" Saskia lost all decency. "Or is it the ego of a boy, deflated by mere bullies?"

"I do not force you to follow me!" Trystan snarled. He had forgotten that Saskia was responsible for his escape in the first place. "You chose to stand in death's path! I offered you alternatives!"

"Promises to send me home!" Saskia raised her voice. "Yet they no longer give life to honor!"

"You think I dishonor my promise?!" Trystan barked, half screaming. He had tolerated Saskia's unreasonable demand without her showing even the scantest appreciation. This nonsense had to end. "Have you forgotten who you are? You've come this far because of me! I could have left you in Clan Wolf's clutch, but I came back for you! Without me you've been Star Captain Benten's fetish doll!"

"Do not seek to balance standing! We will never be so!" Saskia stood her ground. She was tired of Trystan's recurring disregard of his promise. And now that Trystan started to credit himself more than he deserved, her patience wore thin. "You begged to come with me! Absent Gilvy you still stand a common slave, condemned to bow and scrape while breath yet lingers!"

"And you would've been dead without me!"

"A much better notion! I shall see myself free from constricting lies!"

"You wanna leave? Fine, go! See how far you can do it without me!"

"I shall make arrangements!" Saskia huffed. She hated to admit that Trystan had been helping her survive this strange universe. But the boy didn't show intention to respect anything but his own need. It was time to take matters into her own hands and do things that should've been done sooner. "Gilvy and I would retire from sight by nightfall!"

"The sooner the better!" Trystan spat bitterly, then turned and stormed off the dropship. His head throbbed with pain, escalated by rage. How much would it take for Saskia to give him a little respect for what he did? He led her out of the pirates' assault. He saved her from Clan Wolf. He took her out of a pirate world. But all she cared was going home. She saw him as a luggage that slowed her down. And she did everything for her zoid, an overblown puppy that couldn't even survive a mediocre pirate lance.

"Don't dare to leave the dropship, Vandenberg," Lei Fong boomed before Trystan got to the ramp. "You may be done with her, but you're not done with me."

"I am not your slave anymore!" Trystan roared. "I am a free man!"

"You told me I would get a position in your mercenary unit!" Lei Fong bore down his wrath upon him, even fiercer than Saskia's. "Where is the unit?"

"I don't have it yet," Trystan grimaced. "That's why we are here and that's why we are going to Solaris. We are recruiting good mechwarriors to get the Blazing Aces back."

"So you lied to me."

"I did not lie to you," he sighed, trying to find a way to get around Lei Fong. "The Blazing Aces is mine. I will get it back, and you will get your position."

"Don't play games with me you Nordic asshole!" Lei Fong lunged at Trystan, embers crackling in his eyes. "Is this how you think a mercenary unit works? Wagering bounties that you don't own? You lied to me, and from your spirited conversation with the girl it looks like you lied to her too. What lies did you tell Mr. Clan Rowdy Heffalump to get him to follow you?"

And it occurred to Trystan that he started his relationship with everybody by lying. Technically it wasn't a straight-out lie, but he intentionally misled them. He could argue all day that misleading was different than lying, but in the end everything came down to trust, and he betrayed theirs. What kind of unit he expected to lead without trust? Exactly like the current Blazing Aces. Everything was based on lies and deceit.

"I did not mean to lie to anybody," Trystan faltered under Lei Fong's heavy assault. "I was betrayed, and I have to get it back. I need you to work with me and trust me…"

"You don't even know what 'trust' means! This is all about you! You, avenging your mother's death! You, getting your unit back! You, getting everybody to wipe your ass! I'm going home!"

"Home? Antallos? No, no, look, Lei Fong, you can't return to the pirates!"

"It's better than chasing empty promises! That's all you have, Trystan! That's what you give people! Empty promises! You wish to lead a mercenary unit with it? Good luck, I'm not taking part in it."

Trystan didn't know how everything suddenly exploded in his face. Saskia was a wild card; her coming to Outreach was more of Trystan's personal agenda than a necessity. But Lei Fong? He was a big part of Trystan's future plan for the Blazing Aces. Lei Fong was a great technician, an almost irreplaceable asset for the future Blazing Aces. No military unit could survive without technicians that kept the battlemechs, and just about everything else, in running condition.

"You wanna go? Fine! Go back! See if I care!" he snapped before leaving for the tavern.

The bar was almost empty with only a handful of customers, which was expected, considering it wasn't even noon yet. It was barely open. Half the chairs were still stacked on top of the tables, and two servers in casual outfit slowly put them down, chattering and giggling in the process. There was no sense of urgency as nobody expected to see a lot of customers until later in the afternoon.

Trystan didn't normally drink during stress but he needed one right now. He asked for the second round, even though the liquor didn't do a good job to calm his nerves. But Trystan always had a hard time to calm down. He was the uptight, neurotic half of the Vandenberg twins. He overthought everything. He knew if he could sit back and relax and analyze the breakdown with clear mind, he would find the right solution in timely manner. But he couldn't do it. He just had to beat himself for it. If only he could be like Caelia…

He missed his sister. Terribly.

"Either you like Timbiqui Dark or you're carrying a heavy burden," the bartender, a middle-aged woman, stated as she handed Trystan the second Timbiqui Dark. "It's not even noon and you're already on your second."

Trystan scoffed and took a large chug of beer. "Beer's good. Alcohol's terrible. I don't know how people can relax drinking this thing. I can't."

The bartender chortled. "There's only one problem that you can't wash away with liquor. Love."

Trystan sniggered. "Quite the opposite."

"Then you're just having the worst day of your life."

"Probably," Trystan took another swig. "You don't know any good mech tech, do you?"

"Why are you looking for one?" the bartender chuckled. "You don't need to look for a tech. They are everywhere. There are more techs than battlemechs. Get yourself a decent mech and they will come to you like moths to a flame."

"Not the good one," Trystan remembered Lei Fong's account that mechwarriors pay little to no respect to technicians. "I may have lost mine. He's good. Really good. An artist, with tools as his instruments."

"Do you have a mech?" the bartender asked.

"Yes. An old Thunderbolt."

"Then advertise it. Put flyers around the city. Say that you need a good tech. You'll get half a dozen by the end of the day. That's what I'll do if I want a tech for my Crab."

"You're a mechwarrior?" Trystan asked.

"I used to be. The last battle I fought was the Pirates War, between Marian Hegemony and Magistracy of Canopus. I haven't ridden my mech since."

"Is it running?"

"I think so. Why?"

"Well…" Trystan paused before he asked the bartender to join him. He remembered Lei Fong's assessment about empty promises. Some passages from 'Tenants of Commands and Leadership' about leading soldiers in trust resurfaced from the back of his mind. He had learnt it the hard way. He was not going to repeat the same mistake.

"To tell you the truth, I am building a team. I have nothing to offer at this point. I don't even have money to pay you, maybe for several months. But I have plans to bring the team to prominence, and I think my plans would work. Do you think you'll be interested in investing your time and skill?"

The bartender smiled from ear to ear. "I already have a job."

Trystan nodded. "Understood."

"However," the bartender continued, "the guy sitting on the corner over there is looking for a job. I'll hook you up with him, see if he's interested." She walked to the opposite corner of the bar and talked to a man sitting alone. The man walked toward Trystan. He was a young boy, barely out of his teens, with sharp outfit and nicely kempt appearance.

"Good morning, my name is Valen," the boy shook Trystan's hand. "You are hiring mechwarriors?"

"I am, but I don't have anything to offer right now," Trystan replied. "I'm Trystan Vandenberg. I need a few good hands to help me ambush a mercenary unit at Chara III. Then I will need to go to Clan's homeworld, possibly beyond. After that, then I can work on contracts to earn money. Could be months, even years, before I can give you money. But looking at the bright side, this is the time you invest on skill and experience. So what do you think? Are you interested?"

"Honestly I am looking forward to employment with renowned units like Wolf Dragoons, but they have strict requirements of who can apply for the position."

"Do you have your own battlemech?"

"Yes Sir, a Hellspawn. Brand new, fresh from the factory. My mom still pays for the loan."

"How many combats have you had, Valen?"

"Two, Sir… simulated."

Trystan swallowed hard. There was no chance this Valen guy could survive against even the weakest mechwarrior of the Blazing Aces. In normal situation he would've rejected the boy. However, that was just about everything he could get without money. Good thing he had a month to turn this boy into a real combatant.

"If you come with me, I will train you," Trystan said. "I'm not a good mechwarrior, but I will teach you everything I know. I have a few year experience on the battlefield. Consider this as a co-op for a non-profit organization. Combat experience is your salary. What do you say?"

"Sure, Sir, I accept," the boy said without much thinking.

"Good. The dropship departs in 2 days. Here is the location of the dropship. Be there in 2 days."

"I'll be there!" Valen shook Trystan's hand, then took off. "I gotta tell my mom that I have a job!"

"He's gonna die on his first mission, you know," the bartender said mockingly after Valen left the tavern.

"I know," Trystan sighed heavily. "But I'm desperate. I need him more than he needs a job."

"So how much you're willing to pay for a veteran? Thirty percent salvage sounds about OK?"

Trystan shot a doubtful look at the bartender. "Didn't you say you already had a job?"

"Yeah, a job," she snorted, "which sucks. All I did was serve beer and listen to losers like you. Riding a battlemech to battlefields is so much more fun. Besides, somebody has to look after that Valen kid, and looking at you, I don't think you'll do a good job."

"Twenty percent salvage?"

"Twenty five, final offer."

Trystan nodded with a smirk. "Twenty five then. I'm Trystan."

"Carly Rae. Call me Deedee." She grabbed a rag and wiped the table Valen used a few minutes ago. "I'll finish my shift, then I'll tell my boss I quit. I'll show you how much fun a Crab can be."

"Thank you Deedee," Trystan replied while giving her the address for the dropship. "Now I need to convince my tech to stay before he leaves."

Whenever she was upset of depressed, Saskia took a flight with her Gilvader. Flying calmed her down, relaxed her nerves, and cleared her mind. The sky was her sanctuary, a safe haven from the greed and corruption of humans, and just about everything else. It had always been that way.

This time, though, she had nowhere to go. The Gilvader, for whatever reason, was constrained to the ground. Outreach might offer different environment, but after what happened at Antallos, Saskia was too scared to expose her zoid to the crowd. This was a different crowd than home. People in this universe were more refined yet savage than people at planet Zi.

And to think that Trystan was different than the rest of them was foolish.

Saskia didn't know what made her easily fall for a man with strong determination. It was exactly what happened with Royce, the special agent from Guylos Empire who ended up being 'devoured' by his own ambition. And now Trystan, a boy that was driven to regain control of his lost mercenary unit. Perhaps she saw her father in those men; a decorated pilot in Helic Republic, respected by many, loved by all. Or perhaps she was just a sucker for men with strong will.

Her Gilvader noticed the dark aura surrounding her, and emitted a low growl for comfort.

"Don't stand by me, Gilvy," Saskia moaned, half whispering. "I have nothing but misery."

The Gilvader sneered, almost like mocking. Saskia was amused how little her zoid regarded the situation. The zoid never had respect for its own mortality, which made sense considering it was an ancient machine with mediocre intelligence. It lifted her heart, but she was just not in the mood of playing at this moment.

"Is this funny to you?" she retorted. "Let brain come to grips! Feet, constricted on land absent path to the clouds. Your air superiority, forfeited. No one had eyes and ears on Mother Zi. And you but scorn fate?"

The Gilvader replied with a series of growls and started walking toward the dropship's door.

"No, no, no, stay inside," Saskia jumped off to block her zoid from getting out of the dropship. "I know your feelings towards bloodshed, yet I wouldn't risk it for the purpose of discovery. I love you, Gilvy. You are the reason for my reserve. I cannot fix you in this world."

"It fascinating to see how tons of armor and weapons yield to one feeble human," Lei Fong suddenly appeared. "How on earth do you do that? To control a metal beast by mere words?"

"Men and zoids form bonds, severed only by death," Saskia explained. "It's the nature of Mother Zi."

"In the Inner Sphere it's called marriage," Lei Fong chuckled. "Anyway, I managed to stop the hemorrhage. Your zoid is fine. I can't fix the armor because it is made from materials not available in the Inner Sphere. But it will live."

"Gratitude," Saskia forced herself to smile.

"I made assessment on its drivetrain, and the whole setting is confusing," Lei Fong continued. "Six booster jets are set up for maximum thrust, yet the wings do not utilize airfoil design. How does it even get a lift? By flapping the wings like fowls?"

Then suddenly it dawned on Saskia. "Magnesser Field! The reason Gilvy cannot take flight! There is a power source on Planet Zi that provides levitation, absent in other worlds!"

"Interesting," Lei Fong squinted. "Without air lift it'll never fly. I'll rearrange the thrust to provide levitation. It will make your zoid fly slower, but it will fly nevertheless."

"Rearrange?" Saskia blurted. "Is it going to hurt him?"

"Hell no," Lei Fong smirked. "Easily returned to factory setting if you wish to do so. But as for now, if you want to fly, we'll have to modify it.

"Next, this giant mecha runs on a massive battery, and it's running out of juice. I can connect it to the dropship's power outlet, but we have to pay for it. I have some money but it won't be enough to fully charge the sucker. As long as it doesn't engage in strenuous activities, like prolonged combat, it should be fine. So watch what you're doing. More importantly, watch what it's doing.

"Then in come the weapons. The 10 cannons on the upper neck are direct match to ultra-autocannon 2. I can use UAC/2 ammo on them and you won't know the difference. The 4 cannons on the lower neck are energy based, so you're good on those. The 4 cannons on the wings, let me tell you: There's no ammo that will fit them. But I can make slight modification to make them compatible with nickel-ferrous shells, the ammo of Gauss Rifles. Again, you can reverse-mod anytime you like, but to survive this universe, these mods are necessary. Ten UAC/2, four PPC, and four Gauss Rifles with 1 ton ammo on each gun. That's plenty firepower by any standard."

"And what exchange would you have?" Saskia raised her eyebrow. "I fear the sum is too large to balance."

"Balance? Girl, you're doing me a favor!" Lei Fong sniggered. "I'm a mechanic. Battlemech engineering is my passion. To work on a sentient machine from another universe… I still think I'm dreaming!"

Saskia's eyelids became heavy with tears. "You honor us," she said, "and I shall see it returned, many times fold, once we graze Mother Zi again."

"I tell you what, I'm going back to Antallos," Lei Fong stiffened up. "I've been following Trystan The Dreamweaver for too long. Come with me. If your assessment is correct, if you jumped once from your planet to Antallos, then it should be within 10 parsecs away from Antallos. We go back to the spot where you came, then trace your way back."

Saskia was a mechanic herself, and Lei Fong's scientific mindset sounded more appealing than Trystan's ghost chasing. But could she trust Lei Fong? The man was an ex pirate. How could she know that Lei Fong didn't intend to sell the Gilvader to the pirates? Why didn't he say it in the first place, while they were still at Antallos?

"I need but a moment," Saskia said. "You shall hear from me by sunrise tomorrow."